the Bible 



Amos R.. Wells 




Class 

Book 

Copyright^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



BIBLE STUDY BOOKS 

These books by Amos R. Wells and others will be of great usefulness, 
presenting as they do new points of contact with the vital themes in the 
Scriptures. 

They are specially adapted for study during the daily reading of the Bible. 

THE BIBLE MARKSMAN 

By Amos R. Wells. 128 pp. Cloth, 35c. 

This book presents an entirely new system of Bible-marking. Fifty-two 
topics — the most important themes treated in the Bible — are chosen, one 
for each week of the year. Each of these is divided into seven sub-topics, 
one for each day, and under each sub-topic the most important texts are 
given, which are linked together by a simple method of cross-reference. 
There is a chapter on Bible-study, and a full topical index transforms the 
volume into a convenient reference-book for Bible students. 

The plan is clear and original, and cannot be spoken of too highly. — Reform 
Review. 

THE LIVING BIBLE 

By Amos R. Wells. 343 pp. Cloth, 75c. 

A course of Bible-reading, covering the entire Bible, a chapter a day, 
with a personal devotional meditation on each chapter. 

A BIBLE YEAR 

By Amos R. Wells. 122 pp. Cloth, 35c. 

A complete course of Bible-reading by which the entire Scriptures are 
completed in one year. Suggestions for daily meditations and for further 
Bible study are given in abundance. < In fact, it is a complete manual 
of Bible study useful to all, and especially to those who have not yet read 
the Bible through. 

A better guide for those who desire to read the Bible thoroughly and intelli- 
gently could not be desired. — The Observer. 

DEEPER YET 

By Rev. Clarence E. Eberman. 125 pp. Dainty cloth, 50c. 

A series of nearly thirty brief meditations, each based on some Scripture 
passage, and excellently fitted for devotional use. The book is dedicated 
to the comrades of the Quiet Hour. The book is marked by both freshness 
of thought and a deeply spiritual tone. 

The meditations are short, but are always cheery, bright, and hopeful. — 

New York Observer. 

THE BIBLE IN LESSON AND STORY 

By Ruth Mowry Brown. m 254 pp. Handsomely illustrated, with 12 
full-page engravings. Bound in royal purple cloth, with illuminated title 
in gold. $1.25. 

Forty chapters upon as many Bible truths, each chapter written in a 
manner that will especially interest the children. In connection with each 
lesson is a delightful illustrative story, together with a "Memory Gem" 
and an "Occupation," in which the children are given something to do that 
will help impress the truths that have been taught. 

UNITED SOCIETY OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR 
Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass*, 
J53 La Salle Street, Chicago, III* 



JUST PUBLISHED 

PRAYERS FOR THE QUIET HOUR 

By Floyd W. Tomkins, S.T.D., LL.D., author of "My Best Friend/' 
" Beacons on Life's Voyage," etc 

The author says, "This little book is sent out with the belief, the hope, 
and the prayer that it may be of service in making the 'Quiet Hour* real 
and blessed." 

These prayers were prayed as they were written. They are not literary 
productions, but the real and deep expressions of the writer's feelings as he 
approached his Master. All of them have appeared in connection with 
Christian Endeavor meetings. Many of them were published in the 
Christian Endeavor World and some in articles written on the "Topics" 
for the Philadelphia Public Ledger. 

The book contains^ prayers of aspiration, confession of sin and weakness, 
prayers of consecration, prayers for strength, faith, peace, grace, and happi- 
ness; prayers regarding the Bible, prayers for public worship, for home, for our 
country, and for missions. Also a collection of prayers for special occasions. 

16 mo., bound in handsome cloth stamped in gold. Price, $1.00, postpaid. 



HOW TO WIN MEN 

By William Jennings Bryan 

Those who heard the wonderful address delivered by Mr. Bryan in the 
Opera House during the St. Paul Christian Endeavor Convention 
considered it the most remarkable utterance ever given by a Christian 
layman. It was terse and to the point. Its logic was sound. The argu- 
ment was unanswerable. This address, revised by Mr. Bryan, is now put 
in permanent book form. It is neatly bound in heavy board covers. The 
price is 25 cents, postpaid. Every Christian ought to read it. Send for it 
at once. 

The New Purity Book 

CLEAN AND STRONG 

By E. A. King and F. B. Meyer 

f" Considered the best book upon the sex question and social problems ever 
written for young men. It treats in a frank, manly way those questions of 
sex often avoided, but about which every young man ought to know. Be 
sure that your young men friends read this book. 198 pages, bound in 
cloth. Price, $1.00, postpaid. 



BIBLE PRAYERS 

And Bible Classics 

Compiled by Francis E. Clark, D.D. 

Seventy prayers — the gems of the Bible — put in convenient form for 
memorizing. The book also contains ten of the great inspired classics found 
in the Bible. It is hoped that these prayers and classics will be committed 
to memory by every young person. Paper covers. Price, 10 cents, post- 
paid. 

UNITED SOCIETY OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR 
Boston and Chicago 



Why We Believe 
the Bible 



Outlines of Christian Evidences 
in Question-and-Answer Form 



By 
AMOS R. WELLS 

Editorial Secretary of the United 
Society of Christian Endeavor 






s 



United Society of Christian Endeavor 
Boston and Chicago 






Copyrighted, 1910, by the 
United Society of Christian Endeavor 



>CI.A2689 



Preface 

Every Christian should be able to give a 
reason for the faith that is in him — many- 
reasons. If he is not able to do this, he will 
not have much faith in him very long. His 
faith will be at the mercy of the first suggestion 
of doubt, the first crafty falsehood of infidelity. 
It will not stand the shock of sorrow. It will 
fall before the onset of temptation. It will re- 
treat from the black presence of death. 

For the sake of others also, as well as for his 
own welfare, the Christian should know why 
he believes. We are to be Christ's witnesses, 
every one of us, as truly as the first disciples 
and apostles. Every Christian should be an 
evangelist, a missionary. In no other way is 
the kingdom of God to come. In no other 
way is the world to be won to its Eedeemer. 
And how can we bear witness effectively if we 
cannot meet the doubts of others, and satisfy 
them with reasons that have satisfied ourselves ? 

It is these considerations that have led me to 
write this little book. I have been preparing 
to write it for more than twenty years. My 

iii 



iv Preface 

own acceptance of evangelical Christianity was 
due to my discovery in my college library of 
Mark Hopkins's "Evidences of Christianity." 
While professor of Greek at Antioch College 
and since then in Sunday-school work and as 
editorial secretary of the United Society of 
Christian Endeavor I have often had to meet 
and satisfy the doubts of young people on re- 
ligious questions. I have found no book quite 
suited to such work, and this book is an at- 
tempt to meet the need. 

Every Sunday-school teacher should be well 
grounded in Christian evidences. So, of course, 
should be every pastor. So should be all 
workers in young people's societies and all 
evangelistic workers. Every parent should 
know how to answer the natural inquiries of 
his or her child regarding the fundamentals of 
religion. To all these it is hoped that this book 
will be useful. 

I know that there is little that is original in 
the contents ; most of these lines of proof were 
developed long ago. I have, however, incor- 
porated the most important of the many recent 
discoveries in the field of archaeology that have 
so powerfully confirmed the Bible, and I hope 
that the book will be found to be permeated with 
the modern spirit. The question-and-answer 
form is, so far as I know, unique among books 



Preface v 

of this class. I adopted it to give sprightliness 
to the presentation for the private reader, and 
also to facilitate the use of the book as a text- 
book in young people's societies and in Sunday- 
schools. 

Each of these chapters treats a vast subject, 
requiring many volumes for its full elucidation. 
I have tried to select the topics most important 
for every Christian to understand, and to give 
clearly and simply the information that will be 
most useful in strengthening faith. If the 
book leads its readers to pursue the subject 
further in larger and abler treatises it will have 
accomplished its best result. 

Amos R Wells. 
Boston. 



Contents 

I. How the Bible Came Down to Us 5 

II. Proof of the Bible from Secular 

Writers . . . . .11 

III. Proof of the Bible from Archeology 18 

IV. Proof of the Bible from its Effect 

upon the World .... 26 
V. Proof of the Bible from its Internal 

Evidences . . . . 35 

VI, Proof of the Bible from the Fulfill- 
ment of Prophecy .... 44 
VII. Our Bible Contrasted with the Other 

Sacred Books of the World . . 53 

VIII. Why We Believe in the Inspiration of 

the Bible ..... 64 
IX. Why We Believe in Miracles . . 74 

X. Why We Believe in the Incarnation 

and the Virgin Birth . . .85 

XI. Why We Believe in the Atonement . 94 

XII. Why We Believe in the Trinity . 102 

XIII. Why We Believe in the Resurrection 112 

XIV. Why We Believe that the Gospels 

Were Written by Matthew, Mark, 
Luke, and John . . . .122 

XV. The Evidence of Paul . . .134 

XVI. The Evidence of the Martyrs and the 

Early Church . . . .141 

XVII. The Evidence of Modern Missions . 148 
XVIII, Why Every Believer in Christ Should 

Join the Church . . 157 



Why We Believe the Bible 




CHAPTEE I 
HOW THE BIBLE CAME DOWN TO US 

HAT sort of manuscripts were 
the originals of the Old Testa- 
ment boohs f 

They were written with 
black ink on skin or parch- 
ment, each in one or more 
long strips or rolls. With the exception of a 
small part of some of the latest books, they 
were written in Hebrew, the consonants alone 
being used. It is these original manuscripts 
which were inspired. The vowel signs were 
added in the sixth or seventh century after 
Christ. 

What has become of these original manu- 
scripts ? 

They were all destroyed long ago, since the 
Jews would not tolerate soiled or worn-out 
copies of Scripture, but burned them or buried 
them. The oldest Old Testament manuscripts 



6 Why We Believe the Bible 

we have are copies made in the ninth century 
after Christ. 

What helps us to know, in doubtful points, 
just how the original manuscripts read ? 

The Hebrew Targums, or Bible paraphrases, 
beginning before Christ. The voluminous He- 
brew commentary, the Talmud. The valuable 
translations of the Old Testament into other 
languages, especially that into Greek, the Sep- 
tuagint, made in Egypt about B. C. 250. 

What may give us confidence that we have 
the Old Testament essentially as it was origi- 
nally written, in spite of all this copying of one 
manuscript from another ? 

The extreme care with which the copies were 
made, especially those intended for the syna- 
gogues. The columns must be of exactly equal 
length and the words precisely on the line. 
The letters were carefully counted, and the 
omission of a single letter from a single word, 
or even the touching of two letters, would con- 
demn a copy, if it was intended for reading in 
public worship. And imperfect copies were al- 
ways destroyed. 

What sort of manuscripts were the originals 
of the New Testament books ? 

They were written in Greek, and probably on 



How the Bible Came Down to Us 7 

the coarse, perishable paper made of the pith of 
the papyrus reed. It is no wonder that the 
originals long since crumbled to dust. Later, 
when the papyrus became scarce, vellum and 
parchment were substituted, and in the ninth 
century men began to make a coarse paper 
from cotton rags. Slaves were employed as 
copyists at first, and thus the copies were low 
in price. In the middle ages the monks made 
their copies with the same loving care that the 
Hebrew scribes exercised toward the Old Tes- 
tament manuscripts. 

What is the age of the oldest New Testament 
manuscripts we possess ? 

"We have two priceless manuscripts written 
in the fourth century, the Sinaitic (discovered 
in a convent on Mount Sinai and now in St. 
Petersburg) and that treasured in the library 
of the Yatican. In the British Museum is the 
Alexandrine manuscript, discovered in Egypt, 
made in the fifth century. No manuscript has 
yet been found earlier than these. 

Why should the fact that the oldest New 
Testament manuscripts are four centuries later 
than Christ not disturb us ? 

Because we have far earlier and more numer- 
ous manuscripts of the New Testament than of 
any other ancient writing. If we doubt the 



8 Why We Believe the Bible 

New Testament on this score, we should reject 
Homer, the earliest complete manuscript of 
which is from the thirteenth century after 
Christ ; and Herodotus, the earliest manuscript 
of whose writings is of the ninth century ; 
while Virgil, Cicero, Plato, and all the other 
classics are scarcely better off, and far inferior 
to the New Testament in manuscript authenti- 
cation. 

In doubtful pomts how cvre we helped to know 
just what the original New Testament mcmu- 
scripts said ? 

By the many quotations from the New Testa- 
ment made by the early Christian writers, go- 
ing back to the times immediately following 
the apostles ; and by the early translations of 
the New Testament into other languages than 
Greek, such as the old Latin version of the 
second century, the Syriac version (possibly as 
old), and Jerome's Latin translation of the 
fourth century. 

What were thejwst Bibles m English f 

The translation of Jerome's Latin translation 
made by Wyclif and finished in 1382. Then, 
in 1525-30 the great translation of Tyndale 
from the Hebrew and Greek (but from late 
manuscripts). Then several independent trans- 



How the Bible Came Down to Us 9 

lations came into use, so that, to remedy the 
confusion, the Authorized or King James Version 
of 1611 was carefully prepared. This was the 
one English Bible till our own day. 

Whence arose the need for a new translation? 

The discovery of the oldest New Testament 
manuscripts, of the fourth and fifth centuries, 
and much increased knowledge of the original 
texts derived from a study of ancient versions, 
quotations, and commentaries. This cleared up 
so many doubtful points that the Eevised Ver- 
sion of 1881-5, followed by the American Ver- 
sion of 1901, may be held to be an almost per- 
fect reproduction, in the English language, of 
the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. We may 
use this version with entire confidence that we 
are getting the exact thoughts of the sacred 
writers. 

What hearing has the history thus outlined 
tcpon our faith in the Bible ? 

It is a history whose like, or anything ap- 
proaching it, is not to be related of any other 
book in the world, including the sacred books 
of other religions. The most scrupulous care in 
copying before the days of printing ; the widest 
authentication by means of references, quota- 
tions, and translations beyond those vouch- 



io Why We Believe the Bible 

saf ed to any other book ; and the marvellous 
providential preservation and discovery of man- 
uscripts more ancient and more numerous than 
we have of any other ancient volume, — all of this 
tends wonderfully to strengthen our faith in the 
written Word of G-od. This faith will be con- 
firmed by the more detailed study we shall 
make in the chapters that follow. 



CHAPTEE II 




PROOF OF THE BIBLE FROM SECULAR 
WRITERS 

HAT if we were shut up to 
proving the Bible from itself? 
"We should be abundantly 
able to do so. The Bible is its 
own conclusive evidence of its 
authenticity, as we are to see 
further along in this course of studies. But the 
Christian is sure, if he is aggressive, to meet 
many types of doubters, and some of them will 
be most easily convinced by proof of the Bible 
from outside itself. Such proof also serves to 
strengthen the faith of the believer. Lack of 
space compels us to deal only with the New 
Testament, whose authenticity is most likely to 
be attacked by sceptics, and most important to 
be established. 

What is the evidence of writers who were not 
Christians ? First, of Jbsephus ? 

There is a remarkable passage in Josephus's 
" Jewish Antiquities " (Book XVIII., Chapter 
III., Section 3), referring to Jesus as the Christ, 

ii 



1 2 Why We Believe the Bible 

speaking of His wonderful works and popular 
teachings, and describing His crucifixion by 
Pilate and His resurrection. Josephus was born 
in A. D. 37, soon after the crucifixion. It is 
constantly argued that this passage must be an 
interpolation, but it is found in all the Josephus 
manuscripts, and is precisely in the style of the 
Jewish historian. 

What is the famous mention made by Tacitus ? 

This masterly Roman historian, of the gener- 
ation following the apostles, wrote that Nero 
charged the Christians with his own crime of 
the burning of Rome. Tacitus adds a reference 
to the crucifixion of Christ as a criminal by Pi- 
late in the reign of Tiberius. 

What is the evidence to be drawn from Celsus ? 

Celsus, a little younger than Tacitus, was a 
determined foe of Christianity. In his works 
he refers constantly to the Christian records, in- 
stancing many important facts recorded in the 
Gospels ; and he was evidently familiar also 
with the other books of the ISTew Testament. 

What is the evidence of other non- Christian 

writers ? 

Lucian, the Grecian "Mark Twain" (born 
A. D. 124), pictured the constancy of the Chris- 
tians under trial, and painted a grotesque por- 



Proof from Secular Writers 13 

trait of Paul. Porphyry, the foe of Christianity 
who wrote about A. D. 295, makes many direct 
quotations from New Testament books, and 
mentions them often by name. After his time 
the references to the New Testament in heathen 
writers become continually more numerous. 

Passing to Christian writers, what is the evi- 
dence of Clement of Some ? 

He has been thought to be the Clement men- 
tioned affectionately by Paul in Phil. 4 : 3, but 
modern scholars hold otherwise. At any rate, 
Irenasus, who was probably born between A. D. 
120 and A. D. 130, says that this Clement was 
well acquainted with the apostles. Clement of 
Rome wrote a long letter to settle a dispute 
among the Christians in Corinth, and in that 
letter he cites the four Gospels, the Acts, and 
five of Paul's letters, together with Hebrews, 
First Peter, James, and the Revelation, — four- 
teen books and seventy-three references. This 
ancient epistle was probably written before 
A. D. 100, or not long after the last of the 
New Testament books. 

What other very early writing have we ? 

The Epistle of Barnabas, which was held so 
sacred by the early Christians that they some- 
times bound it up with the Bible, and it is thus 



14 Why We Believe the Bible 

attached to the most ancient of our 'New Testa- 
ment manuscripts, the Sinaitic. Modern schol- 
ars do not believe that it was written by Paul's 
companion, but it is certainly as old as A. D. 
120, and possibly still older. This epistle 
makes several evident citations from the Gospel 
of Matthew, even prefacing one quotation with 
the words, " It is written," never used except to 
introduce quotations from Holy Writ. 

What other document has come down to us 
from the same time ? 

" The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, 55 a 
condensation of Christian doctrine and practice, 
discovered less than thirty years ago. It may be 
as old as the Epistle of Barnabas, and was cer- 
tainly written before A. D. 140. It makes four 
references to " the Gospel of our Lord, 55 in such a 
way that a written record is clearly meant, and 
it uses sentences that seem to have been taken 
from Matthew, Luke, and John. 

Who was JPolycarp, and what is his testi- 
mony ? 

He was born A. D. 69, and died a martyr 5 s 
death, A. D. 155. He was a disciple of the 
Apostle John himself, and became bishop of 
Smyrna. At his trial he was bidden to deny 
Christ, and nobly answered, " Eighty-six years 
have I served Him, and He never did me any 



Proof from Secular Writers 15 

injury ; how then can I blaspheme my King and 
Saviour ? " He wrote a long letter to the 
church at Philippi, — a letter containing some 
definite citations of the New Testament, espe- 
cially of Matt. 26 : 41 and 1 John 4 : 2-4. 

What witness is borne by Papias ? 

Papias was a bishop in Phrygia, and was a 
contemporary of Polycarp. Possibly he also 
talked with the apostles ; at any rate, he knew 
some of Christ's own disciples. He wrote a 
book on Christ's teachings, in the course of 
which he describes how Mark wrote his Gospel 
from information given him by Peter, and how 
Matthew at first wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, 
and people had difficulty in understanding it. 

What is the evidence of Justin Martyr ? 

Born in Samaria near the close of the first 
century, he became a learned Christian scholar, 
and was put to death under Marcus Aurelius 
about A. D. 166. We have three of his writ- 
ings, defences of Christianity, in the course of 
which he makes about two hundred references 
to and citations of the New Testament, especially 
quoting from all four of the Gospels, which he 
usually calls "Memoirs of the Apostles." He 
speaks in one place of a fact concerning Peter 
as coming from "his Gospel." That fact is re- 
corded in Mark, who got his facts from Peter. 



16 Why We Believe the Bible 

What is the evidence home by Marcion f 

Marcion was a contemporary of Justin Mar- 
tyr and knew Poly carp, the disciple of John. 
He was so ardent a disciple of Paul that he re- 
fused to receive the other Gospels, but accepted 
Luke's alone, because Luke was a companion of 
Paul. He made up a New Testament of his 
own, consisting of Paul's Epistles and Luke's 
Gospel, and thus by his rejection of the other 
books gave evidence that the rest of the church 
accepted them. 

What does Irenceus tell us f 

Born in the first quarter of the second cen- 
tury, IrenaBus became, in A. D. 177, bishop of 
Lyons. He remembered Polycarp, so that he 
was only one remove from the apostles, and he 
knew other disciples whom the apostles had 
taught. In his writings Irenaeus speaks of the 
four Gospels as having existed from the time of 
the apostles, and gives a definite account of the 
origin of each of them, mentioning their writers 
by name. Similar exact testimony is given by 
the contemporaries of Irenseus, Clement of Alex- 
andria and Tertullian of Carthage. 

What is the witness of later writers ? 

Of course, as Christian books became more 
numerous, quotations from the New Testament 



Proof from Secular Writers 17 

increase. Indeed, if the New Testament had 
been entirely destroyed about A. D. 400, it 
might be almost completely recovered as cited 
in the pages of the early Christian writers. 

How does all this compare with the history of 
the classics ? 

Says Kawlinson, " It is of very rare occur- 
rence for classic works to be distinctly quoted, 
or for authors to be mentioned by name, within 
a century of their publication." Herodotus is 
said to be cited only once in the first century, 
once in the second, not at all in the third, and 
twice in the fourth. The first quotation of 
Thucydides is two centuries after his history 
was published. 

What is the conclusion to be drawn from all 

this evidence ? 

We may be sure of the authenticity of the 
New Testament writings, that they were writ- 
ten by the apostles and immediate disciples of 
Christ and in the first century ; and this cer- 
tainty rests upon a series of ancient quotations 
whose like cannot be adduced to prove the au- 
thenticity of any other book of ancient times. 




CHAPTEK III 
PROOF OF THE BIBLE FROM ARCHAEOLOGY 

HAT is the value of the proof 
of the Bible from archceology ? 
The discovery of records, on 
stone, clay, or paper, that have 
lain buried for ages, carries us 
back to the very times of which 
the Bible speaks. So far as these records go, 
their testimony cannot be doubted. It is as if 
Eameses or ,, Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus should 
rise from the dead and confirm the accuracy of 
Scripture. Let us study a few specimen archae- 
ological discoveries, that we may see in what 
way they prove the Bible. 

W/iat is the Code of Hammurabi f 
It is the most remarkable discovery ever 
made bearing on the Bible. It was found in 
December, 1901, and January, 1902, by the 
French archaeologist, M. de Morgan, who was 
making excavations in Susa, in Persia (the Shu- 
shan of Esther). He discovered a mass of black 
diorite eight feet high, six feet in circumference 
at the base and five feet at the top. It is now 
in the Louvre, in Paris. Upon this monument 

18 



Proof from Archaeology 19 

are more than 3,600 lines of inscriptions, setting 
forth 248 laws formulated by Hammurabi, king 
of Babylon about 2250 B. C. He was the 
Amraphel of Gen. 14 : 1, who joined with five 
other kings in the capture of Sodom, and from 
whom Abraham afterward wrested the booty, 
including Lot and the other captives. These 
laws are arranged in a very systematic way, 
and cover a large number of subjects relating 
to both person and property. Though written 
in the time of Abraham, they show that courts 
and a high state of civilization existed in Baby- 
lonia for centuries before his day. 

How does this discovery tend to prove the 
Bible ? 

It had been held that the laws of the Penta- 
teuch could not have been written by Moses be- 
cause they belonged to a state of civilization 
centuries after his time. Indeed, for a long 
time it was believed by sceptics that Moses and 
the men of his day did not even know how to 
write and had no books. The Code of Ham- 
murabi shows us a civilization as far developed 
as that of the Pentateuch existing nearly a 
thousand years before Moses. Moreover, the 
resemblances between the two sets of laws are 
in many parts so close as to show common cus- 
toms of the two nations or else some indirect or 



20 Why We Believe the Bible 

direct knowledge of Hammurabi's code on the 
part of Moses. The immense superiority of the 
Bible, however, is shown by the fact that, as 
Professor Price says, " The Hammurabi laws 
look rather at the external act, while the Pen- 
tateuch regards the inner thought, feelings, and 
desires." This is the element of inspiration. 

What are the Tel el-Amarna tablets ? 

They are more than three hundred tablets 
made of baked clay, found in 1887 by a peasant 
woman at the village of Tel el-Amarna on the 
Nile, about 170 miles south of Cairo. They 
proved to be cuneiform inscriptions in the Baby- 
lonian language, and are a series of letters 
written to two Egyptian kings about 1400 B. C. 
by the governors of Syria, Palestine, Phoe- 
nicia, and Philistia and the kings of Assyria 
and Babylonia. 

How do the Tel el-Amcvrna tablets help to 
prove the Bible ? 

They show that Palestine was then tributary 
to Egypt, but that it had been for a long time 
previous a province of Babylonia. They show 
that Palestine was at that time (when the He- 
brews were captives in Egypt) in a greatly dis- 
turbed state, and among the enemies of the Ca- 
naanities is named a people called Khabiri, — 
probably the Babylonian equivalent of " He- 



Proof from Archaeology 21 

brew," — some part of the Hebrew race. In such 
a state the country would be far more easily 
taken by the Hebrews under Joshua. The 
letters contain the name Jerusalem, which was 
not known to have been in use at that early 
date. 

What is the Black Obelisk ? 

It is a famous monument of black marble, 
now in the British Museum. It was cut in 
the reign of Shalmaneser II., king of Assyria 
B. 0. 860-825. A series of sculptured pictures 
shows men of different nations bringing tribute 
to Shalmaneser, and among them are a file of 
Jews. The inscription says that these came 
from Jehu, whose career as king of Israel is 
fully set forth in the Bible. 

How does this discovery help to prove the 
Bible ? 

This monument, with other Assyrian records 
of the time that have been deciphered, describes 
the wars that were waged by Assyria with 
Syria, and show how Syria was a buffer state 
for Israel, and how the Assyrian defeat of Syria 
left Israel free to expand and become strong. 
This furnishes a perfect explanation of much in 
the history of the Northern Kingdom that the 
Bible does not stop^to unfold, and it all fits in 



22 Why We Believe the Bible 

perfectly with, the record in Kings and Chroni- 
cles. 

What is the Moabite Stone ? 

It is a large slab of black basalt, now in the 
Louvre. It was found in ancient Moab, east of 
the Dead Sea, and was cut in the reign of 
Mesha, King of Moab, about 850 B. C. The 
stone is a tribute to Chemosh, the Moabite deity, 
and the inscription relates how he became angry 
with his people and allowed Omri, King of 
Israel, to conquer them and exact from them a 
large annual tribute. After the death of Ahab 
the Moabites revolted, and won back their 
independence. 

How does the Moabite Stone help to prove the 
Bible? 

In language and literary style it comes very 
close to the Bible, and reads like a chapter from 
Kings or Chronicles. It refers to Jehovah, 
illustrates a number of details of the Bible, and 
perfectly harmonizes with what the Bible tells 
about the relations between Moab and her He- 
brew neighbors. 

What are the Egyptian discoveries of the time 
of the Hebrew bondage ? 

The mummy of Barneses II., the Bharaoh of 
the bondage, has been found. The city of 



Proof from Archaeology 23 

Pithoin has been discovered, and the actual 
storehouses built by the Hebrew slaves, the 
lower portions built of bricks containing straw, 
but most of them being made of bricks without 
straw. We also have the mummy of Meneptah 
II., the Pharaoh of the Exodus. We possess a 
hymn of victory addressed to him and mention- 
ing Israel. It is probable also that the inscrip- 
tions show the death of his son while yet young, 
in the last of the plagues. 

How do these Egyptian discoveries confirm 
the Bible record ? 

They all fit in perfectly with the Bible ac- 
count. Other researches show the location of 
Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, and the line 
of boundary forts that turned the escaping host 
of slaves down to the Eed Sea. The Bible 
harmonizes with all that is known of Egyptian 
civilization. 

How do discoveries regarding the Hittites con- 
firm the Bible ? 

There are in the Bible many references to 
the Hittites, and they are pictured as a consider- 
able nation. Until recently nothing was known 
of this nation except what the Bible tells us, 
and therefore some scholars denied that there 
ever was such a people. But now the records 



24 Why We Believe the Bible 

of Egypt and Assyria show us the Hittites as a 
people that for nearly seven centuries was one 
of the greatest in the world, occupying northern 
Syria and southern Asia Minor. In that region 
there have been discovered many of the ruins 
of Hittite buildings, and many of their crude rock 
carvings, together with inscriptions in strange 
hieroglyphics that have not yet been deciphered. 

What are the Oxyrhynchus papyri ? 

They are very ancient manuscripts, on the 
brittle papyrus, found recently in a low mound 
near the Mle in the Libyan desert of Egypt. 
Among these is a fragment of a book of sayings 
of Jesus. The scholars conclude that it was 
written at some time between A. D. 100 and 
A. D. 150, very close to the time when the Gos- 
pels were written. Some of these sayings are 
also in the Gospels, and some, like the saying 
quoted by Paul in Acts 20 : 35, are not recorded 
by the evangelists. These fragments carry the 
documentary evidence of the truth of Christian- 
ity back from the fourth century to the very 
time of the apostles. 

What other archaeological discoveries are im- 
portant as confirming the Bible f 

They are so many that they can only be in- 
dicated roughly. The ruins of Abraham's birth- 



Proof from Archaeology 25 

place, Ur of the Chaldees, have been found. 
We have portraits of some of the Canaanites 
whom Joshua fought. We have Shishak's 
sculptured account of his campaign against 
Rehoboam, the images of captives bearing the 
names of Gaza, Adullam, Aijallon, Gibeon, 
Shunem, and perhaps Jerusalem. We have 
Tiglathpileser's records mentioning Uzziah, 
Ahaz, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea, five kings 
of Judah and Israel. We have Sargon's ac- 
count of his capture of Samaria ; and Sennach- 
erib's history of his invasion of Palestine, men- 
tioning King Hezekiah. Manasseh is mentioned 
in an Assyrian list of tributaries. Belshazzar, 
whose existence was so long denied by the 
sceptics because he was not named outside the 
Bible, is recorded in the Babylonian inscriptions 
as being the son of King Nabonidus and co- 
regent with him. The unearthing of Mneveh 
has proved its vast extent, and the extrication 
of the palace of Susa from the dust of ages has 
confirmed the book of Esther. These and many 
other discoveries have not only proved the 
Bible correct at definite points, but they have 
authenticated the whole trend of Bible narra- 
tive, and every year they are explaining what 
had not been understood in the Bible, and re- 
moving difficulties which have been the infidel's 
stock in trade. 



CHAPTEE IV 

PROOF OF THE BIBLE FROM ITS EFFECT 
UPON THE WORLD 




OW has the Bible advanced 
human freedom ? 

The other nations were built 
upon slavery : the Hebrew peo- 
ples, even when they allowed 
slavery, surrounded it with 
many alleviations, and no one was held in 
servitude more than seven years or beyond the 
year of jubilee. Rome, whose empire con- 
tained one hundred and twenty million per- 
sons, kept sixty million of them in the most 
cruel slavery. They were overworked, under- 
fed, treated with all inhumanity, and killed at 
the pleasure of their owners. The Christian 
church at the very start received slaves as equal 
to freemen. All through the ages since, Chris- 
tianity has condemned slavery and driven it 
from its borders. While Mohammedans in 
Africa were enslaving millions and dragging 
them off to Asia, Christendom has purged itself 
finally of the foul blot, though it required the 

26 



Proof from Its Effect upon the World 27 

most terrible civil war of all history. This 
has all sprung from the Bible teaching of the 
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men. 

What has the Bible done for women ? 

Among all the ancient people except the 
Hebrews the position of women was degraded 
in the extreme. In the old Roman days any 
husband could put his wife to death with no 
fear of punishment. Greece honored most 
highly the women that ministered to the lowest 
passions. But the Hebrews enjoyed a pure 
family life, and honored their wives and moth- 
ers. There are no women in the long list of 
Greek and Boman sovereigns, but Miriam, 
Deborah, and Esther held the fate of their 
people in their hands. What honor is paid in 
the Bible to Bebekah and Bachel, Buth and 
Hannah ! In the New Testament women are 
given exalted honor, and the Virgin Mary, Mary 
and Martha of Bethany, Mary Magdalene, and 
the Syro-Phoenician are especially exalted. In 
the Acts Dorcas, Lydia, and Priscilla are men- 
tioned with peculiar regard. To-day, even 
after three millenniums, the position of women 
in the East is far more degraded than it was 
among the ancient Hebrews. They are the 
burden-bearers, the drudges, the harem dolls. 
It is only in Christian lands that the career of 



28 Why We Believe the Bible 

Frances "Willard would be possible, or that of 
Florence Nightingale, or that of Queen Vic- 
toria. It is only in Christian lands that men 
and women stand side by side, equal partners 
in doing the work of the world. 

What has the Bible done for working men ? 

Manual labor is scorned in the lands where 
the Bible is not honored. Plato and Aristotle 
taught that manual labor was degrading. The 
Roman Emperor Augustus ordered the execu- 
tion of a senator who had lowered his dignity 
by helping some workmen. The Hebrews, on 
the contrary, compelled every man to learn a 
trade. Moses tended sheep. David was a 
shepherd boy. Amos was a farmer. The Sa- 
viour of the world was a carpenter. His chief 
apostles were fishermen. Paul was a tent- 
maker. It is in Christian lands alone, and as a 
direct result of the teaching of the Bible, that 
laborers are gaining their rights, and co-opera- 
tion is taking the place of exploitation in the 
domain of industry. 

What has the Bible done for architecture ? 

It has vastly ennobled and exalted it. 
Heathen temples, in the main, are gorgeous, 
grotesque, massive, but not inspiring. They 
speak of fear rather than love. They are mys- 



Proof from Its Effect upon the World 29 

terious caverns which the priests alone can 
penetrate. Christian architecture, while it 
alone perceived the excellences of Grecian and 
Soman temples and preserved all that was good 
in them, has carried the art to its highest 
summit of beauty and grandeur in such cathe- 
drals as St. Peter's, St. Mark's, and those at 
Milan, Lincoln, Durham, and Canterbury. 
The cross-form speaks of the central message 
of the Bible. The Gothic arch lifts the soul 
to heaven. Upon the windows and in the 
sculptured walls Bible scenes were set forth 
before the Bible was placed in the hands of all 
the people. 

What has the Bible done for painting? 

It has given the greatest artists their great- 
est and most beloved scenes. The world's 
masterpieces of art are da Yinci's " The Last 
Supper," Baphael's " Sistine Madonna," and 
Michelangelo's painted Bible on the walls of 
the Sistine Chapel. The Madonna, the child 
Jesus, and the crucifixion, the beginning and 
ending of the wonderful Life, have been rep- 
resented in countless forms by all the masters 
of art. 

What has the Bible done for music ? 

The Psalms are the world's noblest songs, 



30 Why We Believe the Bible 

but the Bible is full of inspired poetry. All 
that is best in the world's music has its 
source in the Bible. The greatest musical 
compositions treat Bible themes : Handel's 
"Saul," "Deborah," "Samson," and "Mes- 
siah," Haydn's " Creation," Mendelssohn's 
"Elijah" and "St. Paul," the Passion music 
of Bach. 

How has the Bible influenced literature ? 

English literature began with the Bible, with 
the Biblical paraphrases and translations of 
Caedmon, Bede, Alfred, and others. The Bible 
translations of Wyclif and Tyndale fixed our 
language, and gave to it the strength and 
grandeur it possesses. Shakespeare is satu- 
rated with Biblical ideas and expressions. Mil- 
ton is almost all Bible. So is Dante. Addi- 
son and Steele founded their thought and style 
upon the Book. Browning and Tennyson are 
packed with Scriptural allusions. Sir Walter 
Scott was a "man of the Book." The books 
most widely read among men, next to the Bi- 
ble, are Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress " and 
'' The Imitation of Christ," by Thomas a Kem- 
pis ; and these are the books that are closest 
to the Bible in spirit and form. Daniel "Web- 
ster read the Bible through once a year, and 
established upon it his wonderful oratory. 



Proof from Its Effect upon the World 3 1 

Euskin counted his knowledge of the Bible the 
most valuable part of his education. In short, 
the Bible has been the source of all that is 
best and permanent in our literature, while the 
books of infidels are forgotten in a gener- 
ation. 

How has the Bible promoted education ? 

It teaches the most profound and necessary 
truths, and teaches them not as the exclusive 
possession of a privileged few, but as the her- 
itage of all men. Thus it has become the in- 
centive and the basis of modern scholarship. 
Men of the Bible have founded practically all 
of our colleges and universities. Infidelity 
plants no schools. The free public-school sys- 
tem is rooted in the teachings of the Bible. 
In non-Christian lands ignorance is the lot of 
the people ; it is thus in the so-called Chris- 
tian lands that are under the power of Ca- 
tholicism, the free circulation of the Bible being 
forbidden; but in proportion to the common 
use of the Bible is a regard for universal ed- 
ucation. The Bible, restored to the people by 
the Protestant Reformation, produced the 
modern mental awakening. It has stimulated 
the minds of the greatest sages, so that New- 
ton could say, " I count the Scriptures of God 
to be the most sublime philosophy." 



32 Why We Believe the Bible 

What has the Bible done for civil govern- 
ment ? 

The laws of Moses impressed the statesmen 
and philosophers of Greece, and through them 
impressed the Romans, who laid the founda- 
tions of modern law. The great codifications 
of the Roman law made by Theodosius and 
Justinian were largely influenced by Christian 
thought and practices. King Alfred based his 
laws upon the Decalogue and Leviticus. Our 
United States Constitution was largely modeled 
upon the government of a New England church. 
Blackstone and Kent exalt the influence of 
Christianity upon our laws. "Christianity," 
said Sir Matthew Hale, " is parcel of the com- 
mon law." Said "Webster, "It seems to be a 
law of our human condition that Christianity 
and civilization can live and flourish only to- 
gether." The Hebrew nation was a democracy. 
Its people enjoyed political equality and free- 
dom. Its laws rested upon the consent of the 
people, and they made choice of their own 
rulers. Political progress throughout the world 
has been born of the Bible. 

What has the Bible done for the cause of po- 
litical liberty ? 

It was the teachings of Christian missionaries 
that brought about the recent revolution in 



Proof from Its Effect upon the World 33 

Turkey against the barbarous rule of the old 
sultan. Christianity was the force that opened 
to Western civilization and progress the hermit 
nations of Japan, Korea, and China, and won 
a modern constitution for Persia. The found- 
ers of our own free America were Bible men, 
and they based their country firmly upon the 
Word of God. Lands like Germany, Scandi- 
navia, and Great Britain, where the liberties of 
the people are most freely granted, are the 
lands where the Bible is best loved and most 
widely read. Geneva, the fountainhead of 
European emancipation, has also been the foun- 
tainhead of Bible translation. Cromwell and 
his forces, Knox and his followers, the Hugue- 
nots of France, the Waldensians of Italy, were 
all intensely devoted to the Bible. The princi- 
ples of democracy are the principles of the 
Bible, and they flourish wherever the Book is 
freely circulated and ardently loved. 

What conclusion is to he drawn from these 
facts ? 

That the Bible is a divinely inspired volume. 
No other book, however great the genius that 
made it, has accomplished such results for the 
world, or an approximation to such results. 
Homer and Plato did not do it for Greece, or 
Virgil and Cicero for Rome, or Confucius for 



34 Why We Believe the Bible 

China, or the Koran for Arabia. Shakespeare 
could not do it for England or Goethe for Ger- 
many. There is something in the Bible that 
has made it the fountainhead of civilization. 
What can this be but the Spirit of God ? 



CHAPTEK V 




PROOF OF THE BIBLE FROM ITS 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES 

HAT is meant by "internal evi- 
dences " ? 

The character and contents 
of the writings themselves, as 
distinguished from the evi- 
dence of other writings, buried 
remains, and the effects of the Bible upon the 
world. These internal evidences are so many 
and varied that libraries have been written in 
illustration of them. I can give here only the 
merest hints, pointing out the direction in 
which the most important evidences may be 
found ; and I must confine myself chiefly to the 
Gospels. 

What evidence comes from the record of 
douht ? 

If the books of the Bible were mythical or 
forged, they would not so often record the 
doubts and fears and hesitancy of their heroes. 
We are told how John the Baptist, the herald 
of the Messiah, lost his faith in prison, and sent 

35 



36 Why We Believe the Bible 

to Jesus to know whether, after all, He was 
really the Christ. Peter, the first to confess 
Jesus as the Messiah, that confession being the 
very rock-foundation of Christ's church, is 
pictured as denying his Lord twice. We are 
informed that the brothers of Christ did not be- 
lieve in Him and tried to stop His preaching. 
We are told that Jesus was twice rejected by 
His own fellow townsmen. The three leading 
apostles fell asleep in G-ethsemane. Later, at 
the arrest, every one of the apostles ran away. 
Myths and false Gospels are not thus written. 
Every admission of doubt is an assurance of an 
honest record. 

What evidence comes from the record of 
wrong-doing f 

Myths exalt their heroes, and do not de- 
mean them by relating their follies, mean- 
nesses, and sins. On the other hand, there is 
scarcely one of the Bible heroes whose charac- 
ter is not sadly marred. Abraham, the father 
of the Hebrew race, lies inexcusably, and re- 
peats the offence. Jacob is a trickster. Moses 
so offends God by his pride and passion that he 
is not allowed to enter Canaan. Miriam must 
become a leper to punish her pride. Aaron, 
the first high priest, makes the golden calf. 
Eli allows his sons to fall into horrible iniquity. 



Proof from Its Internal Evidences 37 

Saul is cruel and passionate. David murders 
Uriah that he may add Bathsheba to his harem. 
Elijah runs away from Jezebel. John would 
call down fire upon the Samaritan villages. 
Paul persecutes the church. The honesty of 
the Bible biographies is perfectly apparent to 
an unbiased reader. 

What evidence comes from the apparent dis- 
crepancies f 

There are numerous portions of the Bible 
narrative that apparently conflict with one 
another. For example, it is very difficult to 
make out from the Gospels a wholly consistent 
order of events on Easter morning. The Gos- 
pels differ as to the number of women visiting 
the tomb, the number of angels they saw, 
where the angels were, and other details. 
Studying the four Gospels, scholars cannot 
agree as to the length of Christ's public minis- 
try, or the year in which He died, or even the 
day of the week. It seems impossible to deter- 
mine whether the cleansing of the Temple oc- 
curred once or twice. Matthew speaks of two 
Gadarene demoniacs ; Mark and Luke of only 
one. The genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and 
Luke do not agree. The lists of the twelve 
apostles show differences. Four different word- 
ings are given to the inscription on the cross. 



38 Why We Believe the Bible 

These are only specimens of a long list of dis- 
crepancies, relied upon by infidels as their lead- 
ing stock in trade. They are, on the contrary, 
the strongest sort of proof of honesty in the 
writers of our Gospels. They show that there 
was no collusion among them, and that the rec- 
ords were made by the immediate followers of 
Christ, and not, four centuries afterward, by 
men who merely set down what had grown 
into myths. Many of these "discrepancies" 
have been explained by fuller knowledge, and 
found to be no discrepancies at all. In the 
confusion and fear of those days of persecution, 
just such confusions in written narratives might 
have been expected. The differences, more- 
over, do not affect a single doctrine of Chris- 
tianity, and they are merely such as every trial 
in a law court shows to be natural and inevi- 
table when honest observers set forth their in- 
dependent "observations of the same event. In- 
deed, if the four Gospels, for example, were 
perfectly consistent with one another, that con- 
sistency would be a powerful argument against 
their authenticity. 

What evidence comes from familiar details? 

Every chapter of the Bible narratives is 
crammed with familiar details that the most 
expert literary forger would never think of in- 



Proof from Its Internal Evidences 39 

venting, — little touches that would never have 
been embalmed in myths. The woman wiping 
Christ's feet with her hair. John's leaning 
back upon Jesus' breast. John's outrunning 
the older Peter, but waiting awed at the tomb 
while the more impetuous disciple rushes in. 
Khoda's running to tell about Peter's knock 
without first letting him in. Paul's sending 
for his books and cloak. The scores of easy, 
familiar, personal messages in Paul's letters. 
The "we" passages in the Acts that show 
where Luke joined the party. The linen cloth 
that had been around the Saviour's head lying 
apart from His shroud, and evidently retaining 
the shape of the head it had held. Peter's 
flinging himself into the lake, leaving the 
others to pull in the net. Such illustrations 
could be multiplied many thousands of times 
by every Bible student, and together they give 
irresistible impressions of naturalness and au- 
thenticity. 

What evidence comes from the simple style of 
the narratives ? 

They are clear, straightforward stories, such 
as their assigned authors might be supposed to 
write. Matthew, the account-keeper, is me- 
thodical in his Gospel. Luke, the physician, is 
orderly. Paul, the scholar, is the more ab- 



40 Why We Believe the Bible 

struse and lofty. There is no attempt at " fine 
writing," no artificial rhetoric, nothing that is 
not natural in writings supposed to be com- 
posed by fishermen and others of no special 
literary training. 

What evidence comes from a comparison of 
the style of the Bible with that of records known 
to be false ? 

The apocryphal narratives are loaded with 
pompous rhetoric and cumbered with unneces- 
sary and meaningless details. They are ver- 
bose and fanciful. Take for an example the 
speech over the body of Joseph assigned to 
Jesus in " The History of Joseph the Carpen- 
ter," an apocryphal writing: "The smell or 
corruption of death shall not have dominion 
over thee, nor shall a worm ever come forth 
from thy body. Not a single limb of it shall 
be broken, nor shall any hair on thy head be 
changed. Nothing of thy body shall perish, O 
my father Joseph ! but it will remain entire and 
uncorrupted even until the banquet of the 
thousand years. And whosoever shall make 
an offering on the day of thy remembrance, 
him will I bless and recompense in the congre- 
gation of the virgins ; and whosoever shall give 
food to the wretched, the poor, the widows and 
orphans, from the work of his hands, on the 



Proof from Its Internal Evidences 41 

day on which thy memory shall be celebrated, 
and in thy name, shall not be in want of good 
things all the days of his life. And whoso- 
ever ," and so on, at great length. Con- 
trast this with the Sermon on the Mount ! 

What evidence comes from the omissions of 
the Bible ? 

Much is omitted from the Gospels that would 
be left out naturally if they were written by our 
Lord's immediate followers, perfectly familiar 
with the facts, but that certainly would be in- 
serted if the Gospels were the work of fiction, 
or embodied slowing growing and expanding 
tradition. For example, the Gospels give us no 
hint of Christ's personal appearance. Contrast 
that natural omission with the full description in 
the apocryphal letter of Lentulus to the Eoman 
Senate : " He is a man of lofty stature, hand- 
some, having a venerable countenance, which 
the beholder can both love and fear. He has 
wavy hair, rather crisp, of a bluish tinge, and 
glossy, flowing down from his shoulders, with a 
parting in the middle of the head," and so on at 
considerable length. The Gospels give only 
one fact about Christ's boyhood ; the apocry- 
phal Gospels are largely concerned with it. 
The Gospels merely mention most of the twelve 
apostles, and the New Testament does not tell 



42 Why We Believe the Bible 

us how any of them died except James. Tradi- 
tion is busy with details of their lives and modes 
of martyrdom. The Acts and Epistles give us 
only a few hints regarding the appearance and 
manner of Paul, and his personal circumstances. 
Dozens of guesses have been made as to his 
" thorn in the flesh." We are told that John 
took the mother of Jesus to his house, but there 
the account leaves them, much as we should like 
to know Mary's history, and how John came to 
be pastor at Ephesus. The Old Testament also 
is full of these significant omissions. Elijah's 
history begins at his full manhood. Almost 
nothing is known of the personal life of Isaiah, 
greatest of prophets. Yery little is told us of 
Solomon. Of many writers of the books of the 
Bible we know absolutely nothing but their 
names. The Bible contains the writings of men 
who were not concerned with themselves but 
with their messages. Myth and tradition and 
fiction revel in personalities. 

What evidence comes from the portrait of 
Christ? 

If the four Gospels are not the genuine writ- 
ings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, how 
else can we account for the marvellous picture 
of Christ ? How could a set of forgers paint 
such a portrait of the God-man that the world 



Proof from Its Internal Evidences 43 

ever since has worshipped Him ? Think of the 
wisdom, the majesty, the love of the Saviour. 
Think of the consistency of those narratives, 
with themselves and with one another. "What 
writers of the first four centuries were great 
enough to imagine it all ? — greater than Shake- 
speare, Dante, Milton, and Goethe combined ? 
How could they remain unknown ? How im- 
possible that the parable of the prodigal son 
could be a forgery, that the conversation of 
Jesus with the Syro-Phcenician could be a mere 
tradition, that the talk by the well of Sychar 
could be the outgrowth of a myth ! Kb one 
could picture the Christ as our Gospels picture 
Him save those that were close to Him in the 
flesh. 

What is the conclusion to he drawn from these 
and similar lines of internal evidence ? 

The longer one studies the Gospels, the Acts, 
and the Epistles, and the more familiar one be- 
comes with their frankness and simplicity, the 
more convinced one is that these are genuine ac- 
counts. Characters that appear in different books 
are everywhere consistent. There are myriads of 
little touches that are far beyond the power of 
tradition to invent. And, above all, the char- 
acter and words of Christ give inherent evidence 
of originality and truth. 



CHAPTER VI 




PROOF OF THE BIBLE FROM THE FULFILL- 
MENT OF PROPHECY 

HAT is prophecy, and what 
is the argument from it f 
Prophecy, in its central mean- 
ing, is the proclamation of the 
will of God ; but the will of 
God often has reference to the 
future, so that the Old Testament prophets often 
uttered prophecies of the sort to which we have 
come to apply the word almost solely, — pre- 
dictions of coming events. Indeed, all of Jew- 
ish history was a prophecy, so intimately was 
that history associated with the divine will and 
bound up with the future of the world. The 
argument from prophecy shows how Christ ful- 
fills perfectly all that the Old Testament 
prophets foretold of God's dealings with His 
creatures. 

What was the prophecy of the New Cove- 
nant ? 

The Jews were the people of the Covenant. 
They were bound to God by the bonds of a 
solemn agreement, often repeated and ratified 

44 



From the Fulfillment of Prophecy 45 

during the ages. This covenant is prominent in 
the lives of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
Moses, David, Solomon. In the solemn pres- 
ence of Sinai, on the border of Canaan, be- 
tween Ebal and Gerizim, at the dedication of 
the Temple, the Covenant was ratified. It was 
therefore indeed daring in prophets to predict 
a New Covenant, more spiritual and satisfying 
than the Old : " I will make a new covenant 
with the house of Israel ; I will put my law in 
their inward parts, and in their heart will I 
write it" ( Jer. 31 : 31-34). This New Cove- 
nant prophecy was heartily taken up by the 
New Testament (or New Covenant) writers, 
and Christ was declared to be the Mediator of 
this better Covenant. No one can doubt that 
Christianity perfectly fulfills the prophecy of 
the higher, more spiritual relation between God 
and man, unpopular and heterodox as the pre- 
diction must have been when it was first ut- 
tered. 

What were the prophecies of Christ s king- 
dom f 

In complete antagonism to current ideas of 
majesty and of regal power, ideas current even 
in Christ's day and with difficulty suppressed 
even among Christ's immediate followers, it 
was foretold that the coming Messiah should 



46 Why We Believe the Bible 

be a gentle ruler, kind to the poor, merciful to 
the prisoners, just in His judgments, and a hater 
of war. Isaiah especially is full of such pre- 
dictions. They have all been abundantly ful- 
filled in the character and teachings of Christ, 
and in the revolution that Christianity has made 
and is making in social life. Charities have 
been established on a gigantic scale, poor- 
houses, asylums, old people's homes, hospitals, 
wisely conducted reformatories, just courts, equi- 
table laws, democratic government; and the 
substitution of arbitration for war is rapidly 
hastening the fulfillment of the prophecy of 
Isaiah and Micah, "Nation shall not lift up 
sword against nation, neither shall they learn 
war any more." 

What are the missionary aspects of prophecy ? 

The Jews were an exclusive people. They 
scorned the men of all other nations. It was 
death for a Gentile to enter the inner courts of 
the Temple. They held that their own nation 
was the only one favored by Jehovah, and that 
God's favor could be procured only by being 
circumcised and becoming a Jew. Even when 
in exile, in Egypt or Assyria, we hear of no at- 
tempts to convert their captors. The story of 
Jonah illustrates the spirit with which such a 
proposal would have been received. Even 



From the Fulfillment of Prophecy 47 

among the early Christians there were many 
that insisted that only circumcised Jews could 
enter the church, and the first church council 
was called to consider the question. The proph- 
ets therefore spoke and wrote precisely con- 
trary to the temper of their times and race 
when they uttered such predictions as Joel's : 
" I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh," or 
Isaiah's : " The earth shall be full of the knowl- 
edge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 
These prophecies, involving the whole earth in 
the sweep of Jehovah's kingdom, are grandly 
fulfilled in the missionary universality of 
Christianity. 

What were the prophecies of Christ's di- 
vinity ? 

He was pictured as Jehovah, come to earth 
to redeem His people. " His name," Isaiah de- 
clared, " shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, 
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of 
Peace." He was not to be a mere earthly ruler, 
conqueror of the nations by force of intellect 
and arms ; He was to be the all- wise, all-power- 
ful King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ ac- 
cepted these prophecies as relating to Himself, 
His followers gladly admitted the claim, and 
the authentic record of Christ's life, works, 
death, and resurrection substantiates it. 



48 Why We Believe the Bible 

What was the prophecy of Christ's earthly 
ancestry ? 

That He should be a descendant of David, and 
so fulfill to the letter, by the world-wide spread 
of His Kingdom, the promises of universal do- 
minion made to the Hebrews from the begin- 
ning of their history. " There shall come forth 
a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch 
out of his roots shall bear fruit. Unto Him 
shall the nations seek," said Isaiah, and the 
other prophets are equally explicit. This proph- 
ecy was fulfilled, as any Jew would under- 
stand it, by the fact that Joseph, the legal 
father of Jesus, was a descendant of David 
(Matt. 1 : 1-17). Many scholars believe that 
Mary also was of Davidic descent, her father 
being Heli, and Luke's genealogy (Luke 3 : 23- 
38) being hers. Mary was told that her child 
should receive " the throne of his father David," 
and Christ was held by His disciples to be " the 
seed of David according to the flesh." In any 
event, the remarkable prophecy was fulfilled. 

What were the prophecies of our Lord's 
birth f 

That, though a Galilean, He should be born 
in distant Bethlehem, the city of David's birth. 
That He should be born of a virgin. That He 



From the Fulfillment of Prophecy 49 

should be taken to Egypt. That sorrow for 
slain children should accompany His birth. All 
of this was wonderfully fulfilled by the cir- 
cumstances attending the birth of Jesus. 

What was the prophecy of Christ's character f 

That He was to be meek and lowly, a man of 
sorrows, unpopular, persecuted; and yet He 
was to be a conqueror, a king, the desired of all 
the peoples. These contradictory features were 
precisely fulfilled in Christ. Our Lord's care 
for the poor and the sick, the prisoner and the 
outcast, was accurately foretold. His consum- 
ing zeal was pictured. There is no conspicuous 
element of His nature that is lacking from that 
wonderful portrait drawn up many centuries be- 
fore He appeared, and at times when such a 
character was the opposite of the popular 
ideal. 

What were the prophecies of Christ's death? 

That He should come to His city riding an 
ass's colt. That He, though the very corner- 
stone of the Temple, should be rejected by the 
worshippers in the Temple. That as He, the 
shepherd, should be stricken down, His sheep 
should be scattered. That He should be be- 
trayed for money. That He should refuse to 
answer His lying accusers. That He should be 



50 Why We Believe the Bible 

slain with the wicked but buried with the rich. 
That no bone of Him should be broken. That 
His body should be pierced. That His gar- 
ments should not be severed, but divided by 
lot. That He should by His resurrection 
make conquest of death for all mankind. The 
close fulfillment of these predictions in Christ 
is the greatest glory of prophecy. 

What was the prophecy of the atonement ? 

Isaiah prophesied the atoning nature of the 
Messiah's death most clearly in the famous pas- 
sage : " He was wounded for our transgressions, 
he was bruised for our iniquities : the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon him ; and with 
his stripes we are healed. . . . Thou shalt 
make his soul an offering for sin." Other 
prophets wrote to the same effect, and the central 
thought of the entire system of Jewish worship 
was that of an atoning sacrifice. Our Lord 
quoted these prophecies, applying them to Him- 
self. A reverent study of Christ's life sees the 
prophecies of the atonement fulfilled in Him, 
and surely in Him alone. 

What was the prophecy of Christ's resurrec- 
tion ? 

Our Lord Himself considered the experiences 
of Jonah to be a prophetic symbol of His com- 



From the Fulfillment of Prophecy 51 

ing death and resurrection. Paul taught that 
certain passages in the Psalms have reference to 
the resurrection, especially, "Thou wilt not 
leave my soul to Sheol ; neither wilt thou suf- 
fer thine holy one to see corruption" (Ps. 
16 : 10). 

What proof is there of Christ's prophetic 

power ? 

Prophecy is authoritative teaching as well as 
foretelling the future, and in the former domain 
the Saviour was supreme. But He was also a 
prophet in the second sense of the word. He 
prophesied that Peter would deny Him and 
Judas betray Him. He foretold His own death, 
and the mode of it, and that He should rise 
again on the third day. He prophesied that, 
within the lifetime of His hearers, the Temple 
should be destroyed and Jerusalem fall; and 
both of these unexpected events came to pass. 
Most important of all, though possessing only a 
handful of followers, fishermen and other lowly 
folk, and though expecting Himself to die the 
death of a criminal, yet He repeatedly prophe- 
sied the universal dominion of the religion He 
was founding. Christianity now holds sway 
over one-third of mankind, including all the 
most powerful and intelligent nations, and 
missions are progressing so rapidly that the 



52 Why We Believe the Bible 

present century may easily see the complete ful- 
fillment of our Lord's prediction. 

What was Christ's attitude toward prophecy ? 

The Saviour heartily accepted the fact of 
prophecy, and declared with emphasis, " Till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle 
shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be 
fulfilled." At another time He exclaimed, " O 
fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the 
prophets have spoken ! " He continually quo- 
ted the prophecies referring to Himself, and as- 
serted, "All things that are written by the 
prophets concerning the Son of man shall be 
accomplished." 

What is the conclusion from this argument 
from prophecy ? 

The life of Jesus Christ was the climax of 
God's age-long plan for the world, revealed as 
men were able to understand it, and disclosed 
in its essential outline centuries before the time 
of His coming. Christ's life confirms prophecy, 
and prophecy is a proof of the divine origin of 
Christ. 




CHAPTER VII 

OUR BIBLE CONTRASTED WITH THE OTHER 
SACRED BOOKS OF THE WORLD 

HAT are the principal sacred 
writings of the world ? 

The scriptures of Buddhism, 
Hinduism, Taoism, Zoroastri- 
anism, Confucianism, and Mo- 
hammedanism. 

What is the sacred hook of the Buddhists ? 

Buddha himself left no writing, but his say- 
ings and the stories regarding him were written 
down by his followers, and these, with many 
voluminous later commentaries, constitute the 
Buddhist bible. It is a literature quite differ- 
ent in the different lands where Buddhism 
flourishes. 

What are the excellences of the Buddhistic 
scriptures ? 

Their insistence upon the gentle virtues of 
universal charity, peacefulness, modesty, tem- 
perance, and patience. These teachings are so 
admirable that they are often compared f avor- 

53 



54 Why We Believe the Bible 

ably with those of Christianity. But they are 
ethical rather than religious ; they are merely 
moral precepts with no hope of a living, present 
Father to aid poor humanity in carrying them 
out. 

What are the principal teachings of the 
Buddhistic writings ? 

They teach four leading doctrines : (1) that 
misery always accompanies existence ; Bud- 
dhism is fundamentally pessimistic ; (2) that the 
cause of existence is passion or desire ; (3) that 
therefore the destruction of desire is the way 5 
and the only way, out of existence into no- 
existence, or Mrvana ; (4) that the way to des- 
troy desire and existence is a righteous life ac- 
cording to the Buddhistic rules of asceticism. 
The Buddhist scriptures teach that at death the 
soul passes into higher or lower forms of exist- 
ence according as it has lived well or ill, and 
becomes for millions or billions of years a lump 
of dirt, a stick, a toad, a slave, a snake, a 
woman, a lizard, or, on the other hand, a holy 
man, a great philosopher, a god. 

What is to he said of the alleged likenesses be- 
tween the stories of Christ and of Siddhartha 
(Gautama), the founder of Buddhism ? 

They relate largely to the birth, early life, 



Contrasted with Other Sacred Books 55 

and miracles of the two. They are concerned 
chiefly with events that happen naturally to all 
great leaders of men. Most of the Buddhistic 
legends in which greatest similarity to the 
Christian story is noted cannot be proved to 
have originated earlier than the sixth century 
after Christ, and may rather be attributed to 
Christianity than the reverse. The miracles of 
Christ were sensible and useful ; those ascribed 
to Buddha were absurd, pointless, and useless. 

In what points are the Buddhist scriptures 
inferior to our Bible ? 

Their sad and awful lack is the absence of a 
personal, loving God. They do not recognize 
a permanent soul ; what passes at death into 
another form is only the Karma, or sum of the 
merits and demerits of the previous soul, thrust 
most unjustly upon another being. Sin is not 
an offence against God, but a personal incon- 
venience. Buddhism knows nothing of salva- 
tion and a Saviour. It centres in self, and good 
deeds are done merely to heap up " merit." 
"Women are dishonored and marriage is scorned. 
Some passages in the Buddhist scriptures are so 
vile that they cannot be translated and printed 
in English. Buddhism is a system of gloomy 
self -repression seeking extinction ; Christianity 
is a system of hope and cheer, seeking with the 



56 Why We Believe the Bible 

help of a divine Saviour the abundant life which 
He brought to the earth. 

What awe the sacred books of Confucianism ? 

The volumes compiled — not originated — by 
Confucius in his old age, with commentaries by 
Mencius and other sages. About two centuries 
before Christ a Chinese emperor ordered all 
books to be burned save the writings of the old 
sage, Laotze ; but the works of Confucius were 
restored from fragments and from memory, 
while the great body of antecedent literature 
from which Confucius had made his compila- 
tion was swept away. Thus Confucius came in 
a marvellous degree to influence the thinking 
of one-third of the human race. 

What are the good points of the Confucian 
writings ? 

Their democratic insistence upon the duty of 
rulers to regard the welfare of their subjects. 
Their urging of the importance of right ex- 
amples. The teaching of a form of the Golden 
Rule, requiring from one's self what one wishes 
from others. The inculcation of loyalty, faith- 
fulness, and sincerity. Moderation and self- 
poise are also characteristic teachings of Con- 
fucianism. 



Contrasted with Other Sacred Books 57 

In what points are the sacred hooks of Con- 
fucianists inferior to our Bible ? 

In one immeasurable difference, the absence 
of God from the writings of Confucius. His is 
a system of ethics merely. Reverence for the 
emperor and for one's ancestors takes the place 
of the worship of the deity. There is no thought 
of a Father in heaven. In addition, Confucius 
placed women in an inferior sphere, allowing 
seven grounds of divorce, and countenancing 
polygamy. He permitted a father to tyrannize 
over his child. His code of morals has not 
prevented the Chinese from falling into a wor- 
ship of ancestors and of countless natural objects 
and the most deadening and depressing fear of 
demons. China is the home of the most elab- 
orate and absurd superstitions, which have 
chained the nation for centuries ; and this 
fact is a sufficient condemnation of Con- 
fucianism. 

What are the scriptures of the Moham- 
medans ? 

Primarily the Koran, a book a little smaller 
than the New Testament, containing 114 chap- 
ters, chiefly short, put together without logical 
order. The Koran consists of the authentic 
sayings and teachings of Mohammed as he him- 



58 Why We Believe the Bible 

self dictated them, written in sonorous and 
musical Arabic. A large part of the Koran 
relates Old Testament stories taken from the 
Talmud, or Jewish Biblical traditions, together 
with stories about Christ taken from the New 
Testament apocryphal writings. Probably 
Mohammed never saw the New Testament, 
though he makes references to it. In addition, 
Mohammedans receive a vast body of sayings 
ascribed to Mohammed by tradition, and these 
traditions are partly responsible for the hun- 
dreds of Moslem sects. 

What are the good points of the Mohammedan 
scriptures ? 

One is their simplicity : they are summed up 
in the formula, " There is no God but God, 
and Mohammed is His Prophet." They oppose 
idolatry. They teach the great truths of judg- 
ment, resurrection, and God's power over human 
lives. They inculcate temperance, public wor- 
ship, almsgiving, and fasting. They recognize 
our Bible, revere the patriarchs and prophets, 
teach the miraculous birth of Jesus, credit His 
miracles, hold Him to have been a great 
prophet, and regard Him as the forerunner of 
Mohammed. The traditional sayings of Mo- 
hammed refer to Christ as the coming Judge of 
all men, including Mohammed himself. 



Contrasted with Other Sacred Books 59 

In what points is the Korcm inferior to our 
Bible ? 

Where it gives the narratives found in our 
Bible, it usually gives them in a very corrupt, gar- 
bled form. The salvation offered by the Koran 
is dependent upon a slavish observance of cere- 
monies. The Koran must be read in the original 
Arabic, though, outside of Arabia, only the few 
educated Moslems understand that language. 
Long, formal prayers are prescribed, five times 
a day, with endless repetitions of the same 
phrases. The minute attention paid to details 
of these ceremonies makes Moslem religion an 
exterior matter, quite apart from the heart life. 
Other defects in the Moslem teachings are the 
f atalism that has made the cruel Moslem con- 
quests possible, and the sensuous character of 
the Moslem heaven. Moslems are fanatical, 
self-satisfied, proud, intolerant, exclusive, and 
sadly need the humility that Christ taught, and 
the consciousness of sin that would lead them to 
seek a divine Saviour. 

What are the sacred writings of Hinduism ? 

The ancient hymns called the Yedas, teach- 
ing a simple and almost monotheistic worship 
of nature. The Bramanas, which are ritualistic 
enlargements of the Yedas, formed to support 



60 Why We Believe the Bible 

Bramanism in its intricate caste system and its 
insolent and tyrannical exaltation of the priest- 
hood. The Upanishads, a philosophic unfolding 
of the Yedas, as the Bramanas are a ritualistic 
unfolding of them. The Dharma Sastras or 
Laws of Manu, a complete setting forth of the 
Hindu religious system. The writings of the 
Darsanas, or six philosophic sects of the Hin- 
dus, — one of them being a worship of the very 
words of the Vedas, another being an ascetic 
ritual, and still another, the Vedanta, being ab- 
solute pantheism, — making endless gods out of 
the material universe. Finally, the popular 
epic poems, the Ramayana and the Mahabha- 
rata, the latter including the remarkable antho- 
logical poem, the Bhagavad Gita. In these two 
epics the popular heroes are deified. 

What are the good characteristics of the sacred 
writings of Hinduism ? 

They are not atheistic, like Buddhism, but 
theistic; that is one reason why they drove 
Buddhism out of India, its birthplace. They 
recognize direct revelations from God, a trinity 
in deity, the possibility of a divine incarnation 
in man. They look forward to a Messiah. 
They are intellectual and subtly philosophic. 
They have made the Hindus a deeply religious 
people. 



Contrasted with Other Sacred Books 61 

In what points are the Hindu scriptures in- 
ferior to our Bible ? 

Brahm, the central deity of the Hindus, is 
represented as cold and distant, asleep for ages 
at a time. Hinduism recognizes an endless num- 
ber of gods. It practises the foulest forms of 
idolatry, including the most shocking obscenities 
in imitation of like deeds ascribed in their sa- 
cred books to their deities. The end of the hu- 
man soul, as these writings teach, is to be anni- 
hilated by absorption into the divine essence. 
They present the doctrine of transmigration in 
its most deadening and horrible form. They 
know nothing of a divine Saviour, and the sal- 
vation they present is merely merit obtained by 
ceaseless, minute, and pointless ceremonial ob- 
servances. Hinduism has destroyed human 
brotherhood in India by its cruel caste system, 
which is the heaviest burden ever laid by hu- 
man selfishness upon mankind. It has degraded 
womanhood till the child widows of India are 
the pity of the world. It has weakened and 
debased a race that once was a mighty people. 
Until Christianity stayed its hand, it murdered 
female infants and burned widows upon the fu- 
neral pyres of their dead husbands. Its like- 
nesses to Christianity are only apparent, caused 
by a misleading translation of terms that convey 



62 Why We Believe the Bible 

to a Hindu nothing similar to our Christian 
thought. 

What of other writings held sacred by various 
bodies of worshippers ? 

They are all inferior in influence and power 
to those that have been mentioned. The Zend- 
Avesta of the Zoroastrians (almost extinct in 
their Persian home but surviving as the Parsees 
of India) is a system of worship of a vast host of 
angels and demons, contending for the mastery 
of the world. Taoism, which with Confucian- 
ism and Buddhism makes up the trinity of re- 
ligions to which most Chinese give assent, 
teaches in its sacred volume, " the Book of Ke- 
wards," a tolerably pure system of ethics, but it 
substitutes for one God a multitude of spirits, 
all of them unfriendly to man, to be placated 
by endless superstitions and oppressive observ- 
ances. To these might be added accounts of 
such absurdities as the Mormon Bible, but fur- 
ther discussion of the subject is profitless. 

What conclusion is to be drawn from this re- 
view ? 

That our Bible is so far superior to the other 
so-called bibles of the world as not to be com- 
pared with any of them. Its purity, its consist- 
ency, its lofty ethics, its perfect philosophy, its 



Contrasted with Other Sacred Books 63 

disclosure of God as a loving Father, its quick- 
ening of conscience, its elevation of society, its 
enlargement of vision, above all, its presentation 
of a divine Saviour, the incarnation of God's 
forgiving love, — in all of this our Bible gives 
unique evidence of its supernatural origin. 



CHAPTER VIII 




WHY WE BELIEVE IN THE INSPIRATION OF 
THE BIBLE 

HAT is meant by the inspira- 
tion of the Bible f 

The doctrine teaches that 
the Bible was written under 
the guidance of God's Holy 
Spirit in such a way that it is 
God's Word, the written expression of God's 
thought and will. " Inspire " means " breathe 
in," and an inspired man is one " breathed in " 
upon by God, so that he thinks God's thoughts 
and writes God's words. 

What was the process by which God's Spirit 
produced the inspired Bible? 

Christians agree as to the fact of inspiration, 
which is the main thing ; but they do not agree 
as to the mode of inspiration. This is natural, 
for it would be impossible for finite minds 
thoroughly to understand the way in which the 
infinite God works upon the minds of His 
creatures. 

64 



The Inspiration of the Bible 65 

Wliat are the principal theories of inspira- 
tion? 

1. The verbal theory, that the writers of 
the Bible were merely the amanuenses of God, 
writing as He dictated ; that therefore every 
word of the Bible (in the original manuscripts 
at least) is inspired and authoritative. This 
theory, of course, does not confuse history with 
prophecy, or give the acts of Jezebel and the 
words of Satan any value for us except as 
warnings. Those that hold this theory regard 
the Bible as, next to Christ, God's revelation 
of Himself to men, and consider that in such 
a matter the Almighty would run no risks, as 
it were, and take no chances; that, like any 
human workman, He would see that His com- 
pleted work was just what He wanted it to be, 
and would not allow His meaning to be con- 
fused or falsified by interference from the hu- 
man tools He used. 

2. The theory that different writers, or the 
same writer at different times, may receive 
varying degrees of inspiration. God may in 
one case merely suggest what is to be written ; 
in another case He may give more definite direc- 
tion ; in another case He may exalt the human 
spirit into very close communion with Himself, 
so that the words written are full of His Spirit ; 



66 Why We Believe the Bible 

and in still another case He may actually guide 
the writing of every word. Those that hold 
this theory consider that the writing of Chron- 
icles required and illustrates a lower degree of 
inspiration than the writing of the Gospel of 
John. 

3. The theory that the writers of the Bible 
were left free to exercise their independent 
human faculties and impulses, but that God 
directed toward them also His own power and 
desire, elevating their wills and clarifying their 
minds to such an extent that they expressed 
correctly the will of God for mankind. Those 
that hold this theory acknowledge the admix- 
ture of human elements in the Bible, but hold 
that in all matters essential to the religious pur- 
pose of the book God saw to it that He was cor- 
rectly interpreted and expressed. 

4. The theory that God's Holy Spirit, act- 
ing upon the hearts of the writers of the Bi- 
ble, so ennobled them, so lifted them into 
harmony with Himself, that their writings 
came to reflect His thoughts and embody His 
will. Those that hold this theory think less 
about the words of Scripture and the manner in 
which they were written, and more about the in- 
spired characters of those that wrote the 
words ; that is, instead of saying that the Holy 
Spirit used John as His agent in writing the 



The Inspiration of the Bible 67 

fourth Gospel, they would say that the Holy 
Spirit made John what he was, and therefore 
John wrote the fourth Gospel. 

How are we to choose among these four the- 
ories of inspiration ? 

We are not obliged to make choice among 
them. Each is held by wise, godly, and 
learned men. Each embodies a truth regard- 
ing the Scriptures, and a great truth. Each 
exhibits one aspect of God's dealings with men. 
They cannot be wholly reconciled, but then we 
cannot reconcile man's free will with God's 
almighty determining power, though we know 
that both of these exist. Different minds will 
be attracted to different theories, but the the- 
ory to which you are attracted may be the 
one least needed for your mental and spirit- 
ual development. Get all the truth you can 
from all these theories, and remember that 
the main thing is the fact of inspiration ; the 
exact manner of it must ever remain conjectural. 

How does the character of the Bible compare 
with that of other boohs ? 

It is unique ; no other book is like it. It 
is the literature of a race. It required more 
than a thousand years to write it. "We know 
the names of more than forty of its writers. 



68 Why We Believe the Bible 

The places of writing range from Rome to 
Babylonia. It is made up of all kinds of lit- 
erature, — dramatic, epic, lyric, histories, biog- 
raphies, idylls, orations, letters. It is unsystem- 
atic and fragmentary. And yet the Bible is 
" not a library but a book." From the first 
chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of the 
Revelation it is harmonious and consistent, a 
steady unfolding of divine revelation culminat- 
ing in Christ. Like Christ Himself, it is a mar- 
vellous and unique example of the way in which 
God can impress Himself upon things human. 
'No other literature, no other book, possesses this 
character or any approximation to it ; and this 
uniqueness is one strong evidence of the inspi- 
ration of the Bible. 

In what other particulars is the Bible unique f 

Its large element of fulfilled prophecy. Its 
survival, intact, amid all the vicissitudes of 
time. The great mass of historical evidence 
of its genuineness, such as we have for no 
other ancient book. Its intellectual and spir- 
itual supremacy over the so-called Bibles of 
other religions. Its adaptation to translation, 
meeting the needs of all races when translated, 
as no other book does. Its effect on the world, 
leading to reforms, progress, material devel- 
opment, the advancement of science, literature, 



The Inspiration of the Bible 69 

and art, the promotion of education, civil and 
religious liberty, all that is involved in our 
Christian civilization. Its accomplishing of 
this on mission fields in all parts of the world, 
wherever it is given a chance. No other book 
even approaches this record. 

What was Christ's teaching regarding the 
inspiration of the Bible ? 

He said (John 14 : 26), " The Comforter, even 
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send 
in my name, he shall teach you all things, 
and bring to your remembrance all that I said 
unto you." This promise of inspired memo- 
ries is Christ's guaranty of the accuracy at 
least of the Gospels. At another time Christ 
said (John 10 : 35), " The scripture cannot be 
broken " ; and at still another time, very sol- 
emnly, He declared (Matt. 5: 18), "Yerily I 
say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, 
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass 
away from the law, till all things be accom- 
plished." Again, He exclaimed (Luke 24 : 25), 
" O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe 
in all that the prophets have spoken ! " 

What was John's view of inspiration ? 

Most earnestly he wrote, in almost the last 
verses of the New Testament (Kev. 22 : 18, 19), 



7<D Why We Believe the Bible 

"I testify unto every man that heareth the 
words of the prophecy of this book, If any 
man shall add unto them, God shall add unto 
him the plagues which are written in this book : 
and if any man shall take away from the words 
of the book of this prophecy, God shall take 
away his part from the tree of life, and out of 
the holy city." 

What was Peter's view of inspiration ? 

In 2 Pet. 1 : 21 the apostle wrote : " No 
prophecy ever came by the will of man : but 
men spake from God, being moved by the 
Holy Spirit." 

What was PauVs view of inspiration ? 

In 2 Tim. 3 : 16 he wrote : " Every Scripture 
inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, 
for reproof, for correction, for instruction." 
The Greek original does not mean " Every 
scripture that is inspired of God is profitable," 
implying that some scripture is not inspired ; 
but it means, " Every scripture, being inspired 
by God, is also profitable." 

How does belief in the inspiration of the 
Bible spring from the necessity of the ease ? 

If we grant that men were formed by a lov- 
ing, omnipotent Creator, who is grieved when 



The Inspiration of the Bible 71 

His children fall into sin and misery and seeks 
in every way to rescue them, it is impossible to 
believe that He would not make use of writings 
as a most effective agency toward that end. It 
is by books that wisdom and experience are 
most surely scattered abroad over the earth and 
transmitted from generation to generation. 
Human civilization uses books as its chief agent 
of progress, and certainly God would not neg- 
lect this powerful agent in introducing the ce- 
lestial civilization. Can you conceive of a 
better way of reaching men with divine truth 
than with an inspired book ? And if that is 
theoretically the best way, would not God use 
it? 

How is God? s revelation of Himself in Christ 

related to the inspiration of the Bible ? 

It is impossible to think of the spread of 
Christianity without the Bible. Through the 
Bible we know practically all we know about 
Christ and His teachings. This is not only 
true of the New Testament, but the Old Testa- 
ment also is full of Christ from Genesis to 
Malachi, and shows how Christ was involved 
in God's age-long designs for the world. 
"When we see how carefully God prepared 
everything relating to Christ's life and to the 
growth of Christ's church, it seems impossible 



72 Why We Believe the Bible 

that God would leave to mere chance the writ- 
ing of the record without which Christ's life in 
the flesh would soon have become only a for- 
gotten tale. The Bible is a part of the great 
plan of salvation, and so must be inspired. 

T What hearing upon the doctrine of inspira- 
tion has the feeling of mankind in the matter ? 

It is evidence of the inspiration of the Bible, 
though of course not conclusive evidence except 
for the individual cherishing that feeling. It 
is true, however, that the Bible is self -evidenc- 
ing. As Christ said (John 7 : 17), " If any man 
willeth to do his will, he shall know of the 
teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I 
speak from myself." Millions of men and 
women have submitted themselves to the Bible 
until it has come to have a gladly owned au- 
thority over their lives. They have recognized 
its inspiration because it has inspired them. 
They have heard God's voice in the Book, and 
you could not persuade them that it is not 
God's Book. 

Believing the Bible to be inspired, may we 
yet study it as literature ? 

Certainly, for the Holy Spirit led the writers 
of the Bible to make use of literary forms, and 
to raise many of them to the highest point of 



The Inspiration of the Bible 73 

power and beauty. The Bible has nothing to 
fear but much to gain from reverent literary 
and historical scrutiny. 

What duties flow from a belief in the hi- 
spiration of the Bible f 

The duty to study it with all our hearts, and 
the duty to embody its spirit and precepts in 
our lives. It is God speaking to us. May He 
not speak to us in vain ! 




CHAPTEE IX 
WHY WE BELIEVE IN MIRACLES 

HAT is a miracle ? 

It is an event that appears 
to be at variance with the or- 
dinary course of nature, oc- 
curring or produced to help 
men, to emphasize a religious 
truth, or to accredit a religious teacher. Christ's 
walking on the water was in seeming opposition 
to the law of gravity ; His feeding of the five 
thousand was in seeming opposition to the laws 
of natural growth ; His opening of the eyes of 
the blind was in seeming opposition to the laws 
of physiology. These miracles were all worked 
to help men, to prove Christ's deity, and to em- 
phasize truths, as that Christ is the Bread of 
life and the Light of the world. 

How is it that miracles are not violations of 
the laws of nature ? 

Because the laws of nature do not rule the 
universe to the exclusion of God, nor even to 
the exclusion of man. It is a law of nature that 

74 



Why We Believe in Miracles 75 

objects let fall toward the earth continue to 
fall, and that their rate of motion increases as 
they fall ; but a man may catch a ball as it thus 
falls, and so contravene that law of nature. 
Man's will, plus the powers that God has given 
him, has for the occasion nullified the law of 
gravitation. In the same way the Creator of 
matter and of the laws under which matter 
moves may use His will and His omnipotence, 
and in any case suspend or contravene any of 
the laws that He has created. This is no viola- 
tion of law; it is merely the entering of a 
higher law into the realm of a lower law, super- 
seding the latter. There is still a cause for 
every phenomenon ; but in the case of a mira- 
cle there is a new and extraordinary cause, and 
therefore a novel or unique phenomenon. 

How do modem scientific theories require 
miracles ? 

They presuppose constantly the interference 
of the order of nature by some force above or 
outside of nature. Matter could not have 
created itself. The force in the universe must 
have had an origin. Matter could not have set 
itself in motion. Life could not have sprung 
from lifeless matter. The order and system ap- 
parent everywhere in nature could not have ar- 
ranged themselves by the spontaneous action of 



76 Why We Believe the Bible 

nebulous matter. Sensation, consciousness, 
rational thought, speech, and the freedom of 
the will could not have sprung into being as 
mere outgrowths of matter that was before des- 
titute of these attributes. At every one of 
these points science has no explanation save 
that of an outside, supernatural power changing 
immensely the natural order previously exist- 
ing, — that is, a miracle on the most stupendous 
scale. In the words of the most eminent of 
modern scientists, Lord Kelvin, " Science posi- 
tively affirms creating and directive power, 
which she compels us to accept as an article of 
belief." 

What special reasons warranted the working 
of the Bible miracles ? 

The miracles of the Bible are much fewer 
than most persons think, and they are nearly all 
connected with four great critical periods in the 
world's history: the escape from Egypt and 
conquest of Canaan, the internal conflict with 
heathenism in the days of Elijah and Elisha, the 
exile, and the time of Christ. During the im- 
mense stretches of time between these dates, no 
miracles, or practically none, occurred. In 
other words, Bible miracles differ from those of 
myths and legends in that they were coincident 
with great crises, when exceptional needs 



Why We Believe in Miracles 77 

called for exceptional aid, even to the interrup- 
tion of the ordinary course of nature. 

WJiat special reasons warranted the working 
of Christ's miracles f 

Men have always been feeling after God, im- 
agining all kinds of deities, but especially 
imagining gods of power and anger. Men 
have always bowed beneath a sense of their sins, 
and have struggled in vain against them. Men 
have always groaned under the sorrows and 
sufferings of life. Death has always been a 
terror and the future has been a black unknown. 
Here are the four supreme needs of mankind 
that Christ came to meet : He came to reveal 
God as a loving Father ; to provide an atone- 
ment for sin ; to provide comfort in sorrow ; to 
give proof of our immortality. These four pur- 
poses warranted any interruption of the ordinary 
course of nature that might be needed fully 
to authenticate God's representative. 

Why must this revelation of God in Christ 
have been accompanied by miracles ? 

Because it could not reasonably be accepted 
without them. The excellence of Christ's 
teachings cannot of itself prove Christ divine, 
because infidels admit their excellence, and often 
study them as the works of a great human 



78 Why We Believe the Bible 

philosopher. The sinlessness of Christ would 
be proof of His divinity, but that can only be 
inferred, not proved, from the outward evi- 
dences we possess, apart from the miraculous 
proofs of Christ's divinity. Jesus declared 
Himself to be God in human form, speaking 
the words of God, acting by the immediate in- 
spiration and full power of God, and dying 
upon the cross to expiate the sins of the world. 
It is quite impossible to imagine any reasonable 
proof of this supernatural character of Christ 
and His mission except a proof that is itself 
supernatural, namely, the miracles. 

What stress did Christ lay upo?i His own 
miracles ? 

He pointed to them as evidence of His 
divinity. "If I do not the works of my 
Father," He said, " believe me not. But if I do 
them, though ye believe not me, believe the 
works " (John 10 : 37, 38). And again, " As 
the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them 
life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom 
he will " (John 5 : 21). Again, " If I by the 
finger of God cast out demons, then is the king- 
dom of God come upon you " (Luke 11 : 20). 
In healing the palsied man He declared that He 
did it " that ye may know that the Son of man 
hath authority on earth to forgive sins " (Mark 



Why We Believe in Miracles 79 

2 : 10). When John the Baptist, tortured 
with doubts in his prison, sent to Jesus to be 
assured that He was the Messiah, Jesus in His 
reply laid more stress on His miracles than 
His teaching : " Go and tell John the things 
which ye hear and see : the blind receive their 
sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, 
and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, 
and the poor have good tidings preached to 
them " (Matt. 11 : 4, 5). Our estimate of the 
miracles should tally with Christ's. 

How does the character of Christ's miracles 
differ from that of legendary miracles ? 

Christ's miracles are natural and simple ; 
legendary miracles are elaborate, and covered 
with pompous and unnecessary detail and 
parade. Christ's miracles spring easily and 
clearly from the circumstances ; legendary mir- 
acles do not seem to be a part of the circum- 
stances. Christ's miracles are worked for ade- 
quate and worthy reasons ; legendary miracles 
are often mere purposeless marvels. Contrast 
Christ's healing of Malchus's ear, that no 
charge of violence might be brought against 
His followers, with the legends of Thyrsus, the 
Eoman martyr. The sword raised against 
Thyrsus stuck into the wall, while the soldier 
who raised it was seized with vertigo. The 



80 Why We Believe the Bible 

hot lead meant for Thyrsus rolled upon his 
torturers, causing them excruciating agony. 
Christ worked no miracle to save Himself from 
scourging and the cross. Contrast the simple 
narrative of the feeding of the five thousand 
with the story of the nobleman who had lost 
his way, and asked Jeanne Marie de Maille to 
give him a bit of food. She had no food, but 
gave him a flower which he stuck in his cap. 
As he went on he began to notice unusual 
weight in his cap, took it off, and found three 
loaves of bread growing on the stem of the 
flower ! 

What argument for Christ's miracles is 
drawn from the absence of miracles elsewhere ? 

The apocryphal accounts of Christ's life are 
full of miraculous deeds performed when He 
was a child ; the Gospels give merely the per- 
fectly natural and beautiful account of His 
visit to the Temple at the age of twelve. John 
the Baptist is a great figure in the Gospels, but 
no miracles are ascribed to him, though the 
stirring outline of his life is given. After 
Christ's ascension the great figure of the New 
Testament is Paul ; but very few miracles were 
worked by him, and these few are barely 
mentioned. The apocryphal writings relate 
many marvels connected with the last supper 



Why We Believe in Miracles 8l 

and the trial and crucifixion ; but the Gospels 
leave these climatic events bare of miracle. 
Miracles are ascribed to the Virgin Mary, but 
not in the New Testament. Many other illus- 
trations might be given. Compare the few 
and simple miracles of the New Testament 
with the thronging marvels recorded in 
Brewer's "Dictionary of Miracles," if you 
want to see the difference between truth and 
falsehood. 

What evidence for the Gospel miracles is 
there in Christ's cautions regarding them ? 

He repeatedly told those whom He had 
healed to keep it secret ; He made no parade of 
the miraculous, but rather concealed it. Such 
exhortations, evidently genuine, presuppose the 
working of miracles. Moreover, at times Jesus 
warned His hearers against laying too much 
stress on His miracles. " An evil and adulter- 
ous generation seeketh after a sign," He said 
(Matt. 16:4). If Christ and the Gospel writers 
had been marvel-mongers, such words would 
not have been spoken or recorded. 

What evidence for Christ's miracles springs 
from their connection with the gospel story ? 

Many of them are so intimately interwoven 



82 Why We Believe the Bible 

with events that no one questions that it is im- 
possible fairly to separate the miraculous ele- 
ment from what is admittedly historical. For 
example, the record of the doubt of John the 
Baptist plainly belongs to authentic history ; a 
fabrication or a myth would not record the 
doubts of its hero. But the miracles to which 
Christ pointed in answer to John's doubt are 
part of the same account. Christ's controversy 
with the Pharisees over the Sabbath question is 
plainly genuine ; but its origin was the miracu- 
lous cure on the Sabbath of a man with the 
dropsy. The thronging of the people around 
Jesus because He had given them an abundance 
of food is characteristically Oriental; but it 
presupposes the miracle of the multiplication of 
loaves and fishes. The account of the persecu- 
tion of the man born blind is full of touches 
that assure us of its authenticity ; but there is 
no point to it unless he had been blind and had 
been miraculously healed. Can any one read 
the account of the letting of the palsied man 
down through the roof without recognizing it 
as a transcript from life ? But the man took 
up his bed and walked. Many more illustra- 
tions could be given. 

What answer is to be made to the argument 
that the writers of the Gospels were not learned 



Why We Believe in Miracles 83 

men, and that therefore their testimony as to 
miracles is not to he accepted f 

The miracles of Christ were simple occurren- 
ces, entirely within the comprehension of even 
the most ignorant. But the writers of the four 
Gospels were evidently, even aside from divine 
illumination, men of unusual keenness of appre- 
hension, to say nothing of their noble personal 
characters. 

What answer is to he made to the theory that 
the miracles of the Gospels are the outgrowth of 
later superstitions ? 

The many evidences of the fact that the four 
Gospels were written in the first century are all 
answers to this theory. Also the fact that the 
Gospel admitted by the critics to be the oldest 
of all, that of Mark, is in proportion to its 
length fuller of miracle than any other, while 
the Gospel admittedly written last of the four, 
that of John, has fewer miracles than any other. 

What is to he said in reply to those that ac- 
knowledge the authenticity of the accounts, hut 
ascribe the so-called miracles to natural causes ? 

If the other two cases of the raising from the 
dead can be ascribed to a trance, certainly that 
of Lazarus cannot ; and only miraculous knowl- 
edge could have told Jesus that these three 



84 Why We Believe the Bible 

were in trances. If one or two persons could 
be persuaded, by hypnotic means that they were 
eating bread when they were not, certainly five 
thousand could not. If the fever with which 
Peter's wife's mother suffered may have been 
intermittent and have ceased naturally, no 
such explanation can account for the healing of 
the ten lepers and of the man born blind. If 
the woman with the issue of blood might have 
been healed by auto-suggestion, certainly it was 
not by auto-suggestion that the storm ceased on 
the Sea of Galilee or the fig tree was withered 
or the water was turned into wine. If a few 
miracles might be ascribed plausibly to natural 
causes, the attempt to find natural explanations 
for most of the miracles ends in absurdity. 

To what conclusion must we come regarding 
Christ's miracles ? 

For the reasons adduced, together with many 
others for which I have no space and which are 
not needed, every candid and careful thinker 
must conclude that miracles can occur, that in 
the case of Christ they were needed as an au- 
thentication of a divine revelation, and that 
they did occur just as they are set down in the 
four Gospels. 



WHY WE BELIEVE IN THE INCARNATION 
AND THE VIRGIN BIRTH 




HAT is meant by the incarna- 
tion ? 

This supreme doctrine of 
Christianity teaches that the 
Son of God, of the substance 
of the Father, living with the 
Father from the beginning, became a man, tak- 
ing upon Himself not only the human body 
with all its limitations and possible infirmities, 
but entering also fully into our human trials, 
being tempted in all points as we are tempted ; 
and that He did this in order to manifest the 
Father to men, and by His life and sacrificial 
death to bring men to the Father from whom 
they had strayed. 

What is the New Testament teaching concern- 
ing the birth of Jesus from a virgin ? 

The actual account appears in Matthew and 
Luke, but this supernatural origin of our Lord 

85 



86 Why We Believe the Bible 

is presupposed by all the rest of the New Testa- 
ment, especially by John in the opening chap- 
ters of his Gospel, and by Paul in all his 
theology. The virgin birth is no outgrowth of 
later thought, but it is a part of the very earliest 
teaching and fundamental records of Chris- 
tianity. 

Why is the doctrine of the virgin birth a 
reasonable teaching f 

It harmonizes, as no other belief would har- 
monize, with all that we know of Christ's 
nature, and the purpose of His coming into the 
world. To suppose that a birth from Mary 
and Joseph could be the incarnate Deity is to 
suppose a marvel vastly greater than the virgin 
birth. On the contrary, if a person was to be 
born into the world who should on the one 
hand be clothed with our humanity and on the 
other hand be a perfect manifestation of Deity, 
the process we should naturally imagine, in ac- 
cordance with all we know of births in God's 
creation, would be precisely this, that God 
would bring about a birth from a virgin. From 
His earthly mother the Son would then inherit 
our entire humanity, and from His heavenly 
Father He would inherit God's entire divinity, 
and the process would be entirely harmonious 
with the ordinary processes of life. 



The Incarnation and the Virgin Birth 87 

What did Christ teach concerning the in- 
carnation and His own divinity ? 

He declared repeatedly and with all possible 
plainness that He was God. " I and my Father 
are one," He said, in effect, over and over. 
" Before Abraham was, I am." " I proceeded 
forth from God." "He that seeth me seeth 
him that sent me." "He that hath seen me 
hath seen the Father." " Father, glorify thou 
me with the glory which I had with thee before 
the world was." " Thou lovedst me before the 
foundation of the world." " I am in the 
Father, and the Father in me." "Neither 
knoweth any man the Father, save the Son." 
" As the Father raiseth up the dead, even so 
the Son." "All men should honor the Son, 
even as they honor the Father." Similar 
emphatic statements are to be found in all the 
Gospels, repeated over and over in many con- 
nections and in a great variety of ways. 

What is the teaching of the rest of the New 
Testament regarding the incarnation and di- 
vinity of Jesus ? 

Everywhere Christ's declaration of His in- 
carnation and divinity is eagerly accepted, and 
made the basis of faith and action. Paul 
teaches fully the pre-existence of Jesus, that He 



88 Why We Believe the Bible 

was one with the Father, that He created all 
things, that He became incarnate in our human- 
ity, that His death reconciled the world to 
God, that at His ascension He sat upon God's 
right hand where He now rules the universe, 
and that in the end of the world He is to be 
our Judge. Peter accords heartily in his writ- 
ings with the Pauline view of Christ, and so 
with unique emphasis does the unknown writer 
of the letter to the Hebrews. The letter of 
James is not devoted to theology, but so far as 
it touches such themes it is of one mind with 
all the rest of the New Testament. 

How does Christ's life prove the doctrine of 
the incarnation ? 

By its sinlessness ; no other person in the 
world's history presents Christ's perfection of 
character, — and this in spite of the severest 
temptations to pride, revenge, passion, and 
avarice. Also by its miracles, so wonderful, 
and so fully attested. Also by its words, un- 
excelled in wisdom and power. Also by its 
very claims to divinity, which in any other man 
would seem the ravings of insanity or the empty 
bombast of a fool, while in Christ they do not 
seem incongruous, but even unbelievers hold 
them as worthy of respectful and often of 
reverent consideration. 



The Incarnation and the Virgin Birth 89 

How do we reconcile the doctrine of the in- 
carnation with the fact that Christ seemed to 
prefer for Himself the title^ " Son of Man" 
using it someiohat more frequently than other 
titles? 

That very fact indicates that He was so con- 
scious of Deity that He felt it necessary to 
emphasize His humanity, so that men might 
not feel Him to be isolated from them. But 
the title, " Son of Man," was a recognized title 
of the Messiah, referring to the splendid predic- 
tion of the Messiah's sovereignty in Dan. 7 : 13, 
14. And when Jesus asked Peter, " Who do 
men say that the Son of man is ? " and Peter 
answered, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God," Jesus at once declared that God 
had revealed to Peter the truth concerning 
Himself. 

How does the doctrine of the incarnation differ 
from the teaching that all men may become 

"sons of God"? 

This teaching, of which so much is made by 
so-called "liberals," is of course true, and is 
emphasized in the New Testament. But the 
New Testament writers would have been horri- 
fied to find Christ's incarnation compared with 
the union with God which we may gain through 



90 Why We Believe the Bible 

Christ. When Christ comes to dwell in our 
hearts through faith we do not become incarna- 
tions of Deity ; and the term, " little Christs," 
is offensive to me. Christ suffered once for all, 
— how often that " once " is repeated in the New 
Testament ! His life was unique in the atone- 
ment it made. Its most characteristic aspects, 
those that win for it the title " Messiah " or 
"Christ," cannot be repeated in the lives of His 
followers. There is a sense, of course, in which 
we Christians are to show forth the Father as 
Christ manifested Him ; but it is an infinitely 
inferior sense. He is the Light of the world, 
and we are " broken lights " of Him. "We 
" sons of God " are as different from the one 
Son of God as the image of the sun in a hand- 
glass differs from the central heat and light and 
power of the solar system. 

How shall we ansvjer the objection that the 
doctrine of the incarnation removes Christ from 
human sympathy, and destroys the power of 
His example ? 

By insisting on the fact of Christ's entire 
humanity. God became man, complete man, 
man with all our human possibilities of weak- 
ness, suffering, and sin. He became conscious, 
probably gradually, of His supernatural origin 
and power, but He never used that knowledge 



The Incarnation and the Virgin Birth 91 

or power in a way to separate Himself from 
humanity, or make His life in any particular 
one that we cannot all of us imitate. To do 
this was the substance of His great temptation, 
continually and triumphantly resisted. He 
could have summoned legions of angels to His 
aid, as He knew, but He contented Himself 
with twelve human disciples, and one of them 
a traitor. He could have called down fire from 
heaven upon His enemies, but instead He sub- 
mitted to all indignities and to the most cruel 
death. He could have caused a palace to spring 
up from the earth as easily as He multiplied the 
loaves and fishes ; but He refrained, and had 
not where to lay His head. He felt the limita- 
tions of His humanity. He lived a life of 
humble prayer. " The Father is greater than 
I," He declared. Of the judgment-day He as- 
serted that He did not know the time for it, but 
that the Father did. He even declared that 
His disciples would work greater miracles than 
He, after He had returned to the Father, be- 
cause the "other Strengthener " whom the 
Father would send in Christ's name and stead 
would not be subject to our human limitations. 
The doctrine of the incarnation emphasizes 
Christ's humanity as much as His divinity. In- 
deed, unless Christ was completely human 
there was no incarnation at all. 



92 Why We Believe the Bible 

What should we have missed if Christ had 
come directly from heaven as a splendid angel f 

We should have missed the revelation of the 
dignity of our humanity, — that we men are so 
close to Deity that God can incarnate Himself 
in a man's body, and that our value in His eyes 
is so great that He was willing to do it. We 
should have missed the glorification of infancy 
and motherhood so greatly needed by the 
woman-scorning, babe-neglecting ancient world. 
We should have missed the ennobling of the 
simple life, the life of poverty and of toil. We 
should have missed the most convincing pos- 
sible evidence of God's sympathy with human 
sorrows and temptations. We should have 
missed the inspiration of the Great Example, 
the Ideal Man, the one perfect illustration of 
what our humanity may attain. And no angel, 
however splendid, could have given us that 
light of the glory of God which we see in the 
face of Jesus Christ. 

What is the supreme effect of the incarna- 
tion? 

Through the incarnation our Lord became 
the new Adam of the human race. He im- 
planted in mankind a supernatural principle, 
lifting it from slavery to the evil past and 
bringing it into vital union with the Father. 



The Incarnation and the Virgin Birth 93 

His own birth was only the first of the New 
Births which are to redeem the human race. 
This new birth through union with Christ is 
meaningless mysticism to the unbeliever, but 
every faithful follower of Christ bears witness 
that it is an actual experience, and the central 
joy and fruitful strength of his life. To those 
that have thus been born again the doctrine 
of the incarnation is not only natural, reason- 
able, and necessary, but unspeakably precious. 




CHAPTER XI 
WHY WE BELIEVE IN THE ATONEMENT 

HAT was Christ's own view of 
His death f 

That it was far more than 
the triumph of the evil forces 
of this world, a spectacle to 
evoke pity for His sufferings, 
admiration for His courage, emulation of His 
forgiveness and patience, and hatred of the 
pride and cruelty that sentenced Him to the 
cross. Christ, as all four Gospels show, taught 
that His death had supernatural power to free 
men from the entanglements of an evil past and 
lift them into a new fellowship with God. 
He came to earth, He declared, to give His life 
as a ransom. He was to lay down His life for 
His sheep. The bread which He brought from 
heaven was His flesh, to be given for the life 
of the world. Whoever in grateful affection 
should eat His flesh and drink His blood should 
have eternal life. Especially in giving to His 
followers that priceless symbol, the Lord's 
Supper, He made its meaning perfectly clear. 
The wine was to betoken His blood of the New 

94 



Why We Believe in the Atonement 95 

Covenant, shed on behalf of many unto the re- 
mission of their sins. Whatever may be our 
thought regarding Christ's death, there can be 
only one understanding of Christ's thought of 
it, — that it was a sacrifice for the sins of the 
world. 

What preparation for the atonement did God 
make in history ? 

He showed His great desire that the atone- 
ment should be received and understood by 
leading up to it with the most elaborate and 
long-continued chain of events in all the 
processes of His providence. The entire sys- 
tem of Jewish religious ceremonies, with the 
practice thereof from the beginning to the 
days of Christ, was formed and perpetuated in 
anticipation of Christ's atonement, and to pre- 
pare men to understand it and accept it. The 
Lamb, indeed, was slain from the foundation 
of the world. Wherever, even in heathen 
lands, a sacrifice was offered, it taught men a 
little of the lesson of the cross. All the sym- 
bolism of the Tabernacle and Temple, the Most 
Holy Place, the Mercy Seat, the altar of in- 
cense, the altar of burnt offerings, and the con- 
secrated priesthood, was for the first time fully 
interpreted when our Lord died upon Calvary. 

How shall we answer the objection that it 



96 Why We Believe the Bible 

would have been unjust and immoral for God 
to be angry with His Son, and punish Him for 
the sins which He had never committed f 

By pointing out that this is an absurd 
caricature of the doctrine of the atonement, a 
teaching not to be found in the Bible and not 
set forth by the church. " The Father loveth 
the Son/' said Christ ; and if in the climax of 
horrors on the cross there was a fear that God 
had forsaken Him, it soon passed away, and it 
was into the hands of a loving Father that the 
Son yielded His spirit when He died. 

How shall we answer the objection that God 
could not take our sins and lay them upon 
Christ, and take Christ' } s righteousness and lay 
it upon us j and that this artificial exchange 
would be unjust even if it were possible ? 

By showing that this is not at all the doctrine 
of the atonement taught by the Bible and the 
church. God is not thought of as apart from 
Christ in the atonement, but as one with Him, 
here as well as everywhere else. " God was in 
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." 
The death on the cross shows us, not a stern 
judge insisting upon a penalty but allowing 
another than the culprit to substitute for him, 
but the Judge Himself taking the culprit's 
place. In other words, whatever was accom- 



Why We Believe in the Atonement 97 

plished in the atonement was not effected by 
playing off one person of the Trinity against 
another, and juggling with impossible transfers 
of guilt and penalty. The Trinity is one God ; 
and whatever expiation was made was a reality, 
and not a legal fiction. 

How shall we answer the objection that the 
doctrine of the atonement supposes a clumsy r , 
roundabout artifice, and that God might better 
heme given directly to men, without the interven- 
tion of Jesus, the supernatural aid they need to 
reunite them to Himself? 

By reminding the objector, in the first place, 
that God bestows all His gifts by intermediaries, 
and it is only through an almost endless chain 
of persons, materials, and laws that we can 
trace our daily blessings to the hands of the 
Creator. And further by bidding the objector 
notice that by the incarnation in Jesus the most 
direct visible manifestation of God in all his- 
tory has been made, while this manifestation is 
now daily completed by the gift of the Holy 
Spirit, than which no more direct communica- 
tion between God and man could possibly be 
imagined. 

Why is not our penitence for sin a sufficient 
atonement for it, and reconciliation with God ? 

It would be, if it were absolutely sincere, 



98 Why We Believe the Bible 

reaching to the depths of our being ; but every 
repentant sinner knows how poor a thing his 
repentance is, how after all he longs to repeat 
the sin, and how great is his need for a perfec- 
tion of his repentance and for an entrance into 
the divine purity. The more truly a man is 
sorry for his wrong-doing, the less will he 
dream of urging that sorrow as a reason for 
God's forgiveness. Christ alone has oifered 
the perfect sorrow for sin, and upon that offer- 
ing we gladly lay hold, making it our own. 

What, then, is the doctrine of the atonement ? 

It teaches the divine purity, that God is for- 
ever and unalterably the enemy of sin. Who 
would wish Him otherwise ? "Who could con- 
ceive Him otherwise ? 

It teaches the divine wisdom, that God per- 
ceives the empty folly of a forgiveness on His 
part not preceded by repentance on our part ; 
and that He perceives also how weak sin has 
made us, and how unable to break away from 
sin into a perfect repentance. 

It teaches the divine sympathy, reaching out 
into our wretchedness, comprehending our temp- 
tations, trembling with our fear, shrinking with 
our dread, torn with our remorse, and weighed 
down by our burdens ; a sympathy so perfect, 
surpassing even that of the most loving earthly 



Why We Believe in the Atonement 99 

father and mother with a wayward child, that 
it unites God with the beings He has created — 
actually, and in no mere figure of speech, laying 
their sins upon Him, and all the weight of their 
woe. 

Finally, it teaches that this union of God with 
His creatures acts not only upon God, to oppress 
Him with their burdens, but also in the other 
direction upon men, establishing a connection 
through which the character and power of God 
flow out upon all that will receive Him, inspir- 
ing in them His own hatred of sin, giving them 
His own power to overcome temptation, and 
leading them day by day into His own purity. 
" Having identified Himself with us, He identi- 
fies us with Himself." That the divine sym- 
pathy should thus act is only carrying out 
ideally in the infinite sphere of God's nature 
those imperfect interactions of parent and child 
which are to be perceived on every hand among 
men. 

How does the origin of the word, "atone- 
ment" illustrate the doctrine ? 

It originated from " at " and " one." The 
atonement is the " at-one-ment," bringing God 
and man into a oneness of life — a oneness of 
purity, power, and happiness. This is the cen- 
tral thought of the doctrine ; the thought of a 



loo Why We Believe the Bible 

penalty paid for sin and the satisfaction of the 
divine justice, while there, is a secondary and 
subordinate phase of the teaching, and should be 
so regarded in our discussion of it. 

How does the atonement meet a universal 
need ? 

Conscience tells us that we are sinners, it 
reminds us of the many times when we have 
harmed or saddened those around us, marred 
God's image in us, done despite to our high 
destiny, and grieved the loving heart of our 
Father in heaven. However deeply and truly 
we may repent, conscience allows us no peace in 
the memory of what we ha/oe done. We may be 
at peace with our present, but not with our past. 
Conscience requires of us perfect living to-day, 
with no strength or time or goodness remaining 
over whereby to atone for the evil of yesterday. 

Such being the case with us all, the atone- 
ment puts our conscience at rest by showing us 
the Father whom we have wronged taking up 
Himself that impossible burden of our past sins, 
matching them with His infinite sorrow, and 
casting them behind His back forever. Our 
conscience may well be at peace now, since the 
Creator of the very sense of justice is satisfied. 
Our soul is at harmony now with its past as well 
as with its present. The historical fact of our 



Why We Believe in the Atonement 101 

sins lias not been annihilated, the memory of 
them has not been destroyed, many of the sad 
results of them may abide in shattered health 
and sunken fortunes ; but the sins are gone, and 
gone forever. They have been annulled by the 
only being that could annul them, and in the 
only way that would satisfy even the demands 
of our human conscience. Thus the atonement 
has perfectly met the deepest universal need of 
mankind. 

How are we to enter into the atonement ? 

By simply accepting it. Christ makes no con- 
ditions. "Whosoever will." We enter into 
this union precisely as we enter into any other 
personal relationship. You can know absolutely 
nothing of a human love if you stand apart 
from it, criticise it coldly, philosophize about it, 
or merely say, " Here am I ; let it come and 
take me." Christ knocks at your door in the 
atonement ; He will not batter down the door, 
nor will He knock forever : you must let Him 
in. 




CHAPTEE XII 
WHY WE BELIEVE IN THE TRINITY 

HAT is the doctrine of the 
Trinity ? 

It is the teaching that God 
has existed from eternity as 
three self-conscious persons, the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Spirit, and that these three are diverse modes 
of existence of one indivisible spiritual sub- 
stance, so that there is only one God, manifest- 
ing Himself as these three persons. No Uni- 
tarian holds more firmly to the unity of God 
than Trinitarians ; but Trinitarians add this be- 
lief as to the triune nature of that unity. 

What did Christ teach about the Trinity f 

We have already seen what He taught about 
His own divinity, that He was equal to the 
Father and of one substance with Him to such 
a degree that all who had seen Him had seen 
the Father. Yet He prayed to the Father con- 
stantly, at times felt the forces of sin drawing 

102 



Why We Believe in the Trinity 103 

Him away from the Father, and by every means 
made manifest the fact that He possessed a per- 
sonality distinct from that of the Father. Our 
Lord's witness to the divinity and separate per- 
sonality of the Holy Spirit is equally distinct. 
It is to be found in all four Gospels, and not 
merely in the famous passages in John. Christ 
uses regarding the Holy Spirit all the pronouns 
of personality. He combines in one sentence 
the three persons of the Trinity, as when He 
declares (John) : " I will pray the Father, and 
he shall give you another Comforter, even the 
Spirit of truth." And again: "When the 
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you 
from the Father." And again : " Go ye there- 
fore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost " (Matthew). Christ refers to 
the Holy Spirit as a workman whose operations 
He well understands, stern to convict of sin, 
strong to establish righteousness, wise to unfold 
truth, jealous of the honor of Christ, instruct- 
ing His followers what to say, quickening them 
from death and bringing them into the eternal 
life. It is hard to see how any one can believe 
in Christ and love Him, and yet fail to accept 
the Holy Spirit, to whose existence and work 
our Lord gave such loving and unmistakable 
testimony. 



104 Why We Believe the Bible 

What does the rest of the Bible teach about the 
Trinity ? 

This is a comparatively unimportant question, 
since we have Christ's authority for the doc- 
trine ; but it is a matter of interest to know that 
it is found throughout the Bible, dim at first 
and growing ever clearer with the process of 
revelation, until its fullest philosophical unfold- 
ing is given in the marvellous writings of Paul. 

What do the earliest Christian writings out- 
side the Bible show about this doctrine ? 

That it was not the product of later ages, but 
was taught by the apostolic church just as we 
find it in the Gospels. Thus Clement of Rome 
wrote, about A. D. 96, "Have we not one 
God, and one Christ, and one Spirit of grace 
which was poured out on us ? " And he also 
wrote, "As God lives, and the Lord Jesus 
Christ lives, and the Holy Ghost, the faith and 
the hope of the elect." The Teaching of the 
Twelve Apostles, about A. D. 100, contains the 
words, " Baptize ye in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, in living 
water." The Apostles' Creed, originating at 
about the same time, presupposes the doctrine 
of the Trinity. Justin Martyr (A. D. 150) 
wrote, " In the name of God the Father and 



Why We Believe in the Trinity 105 

Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus 
Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, they then re- 
ceive the washing with water." 

Wliat is to be said in answer to the statement 
that it is impossible to believe in a being who is 
at the same time one and three ? 

In the first place, that it is manifestly impos- 
sible for a finite mind to understand fully the 
nature, attributes, and operations of an infinite 
God, so that a doctrine wholly comprehensible 
would be, by that very fact, inadequate and 
false. In the second place, that the doctrine 
of the Trinity is so closely interwoven with the 
inspired record that we must accept it or reject 
the Bible, with all our hopes of salvation and 
immortality. And in the third place, that the 
doctrine of the Trinity (as stated by its friends 
and not as misstated by its foes) involves no af- 
front to our reason, but is perfectly consonant 
with it. 

What are some of these misstatements of the 
doctrine ? 

First, the misstatement that the Deity is con- 
ceived to be three in the same sense that He is 
one. On the contrary, in essence He is one, and 
only one. In manifestation as personalities He 
is three. 



106 Why We Believe the Bible 

Second, the misstatement that the three divine 
Persons are wholly like human persons. They 
are like human persons in their acting inde- 
pendently, relying upon one another, loving one 
another, talking with one another, counselling 
one another, aiding one another, representing 
one another. They are wholly unlike human 
persons in that they are not mutually exclusive, 
but include and interpenetrate one another, each 
possessing and using the whole substance of the 
Godhead. This truth is revealed to us, and it 
is essential for the unity of God ; but it consti- 
tutes the mystery in the doctrine of the Trinity, 
and the only mystery. 

Third, the misstatement that the doctrine of 
the Trinity supposes three First Principles or 
Causes. It does nothing of the kind. Every- 
where consistently the Father is represented as 
the First Cause. He begets the Son eternally. 
From Him also proceeds eternally the Holy 
Spirit. And even if this were not so, there is 
only one God according to the doctrine of the 
Trinity, for Father, Son, and Spirit have abso- 
lute unity of will and perfect harmony in 
action. 

What are some analogies that help us to un- 
derstand the doctrine of the Trinity ? 

Every man is conscious that he himself is a 



Why We Believe in the Trinity 107 

unit, and yet he knows himself as a material 
body and an immaterial mind or spirit. His 
hand, his foot, are himself, and his thoughts are 
himself, and yet often he is conscious of a self 
quite apart from his body or his thought. 
Sometimes he is clearly conscious, as was Paul, 
of a lower self warring with a higher self. 
Sometimes disease, or an unusual soul or mind 
structure, disassociates the human personality, 
and we have scientific records of many a person 
who was at one time one character, with one 
set of habits, modes of thought, and varieties 
of experience, and at another time a quite dif- 
ferent person, the former personality wholly for- 
gotten, entering into a new series of habits and 
thoughts and experiences. Some have been 
known who have thus moved back and forth 
among three different personalities, with three 
entirely distinct memories and life histories. 

There are many illustrations in nature of 
unity in essence coupled with great variety in 
manifestation, such as the carbon that may be 
coal or diamond, the aluminum that may be 
clay or ruby, the lime that may be chalk or 
pearl; such also as the energy that may be 
actinic rays, or heat rays, or light rays. In- 
deed, so definitely has the unity of nature been 
disclosed to us of recent years that the trans- 
mutation of metals is no longer the empty 



108 Why We Believe the Bible 

dream of the alchemist, but is taken up as a 
sober possibility by the most renowned savants. 
Illustrations such as these, however, are farther 
from the point than those taken from our own 
human experience, which shows us so plainly 
our own unity of essence coupled with com- 
plexity of personality that the wonder is no 
longer that there should be a Trinity in the 
Godhead, but that the nature of the infinite 
Creator and Upholder of all things, present 
everywhere and conscious of every event, 
should be only threefold, and not rather an in- 
finite number of personalities, each with His 
own sufficient sphere of operations. 

What, on the other hand, would he the diffi- 
culty of believing in a God with only one per- 
sonality ? 

The difficulty of coming into loving fellow- 
ship with Him. We love Him because He is a 
God of love, so revealed to us and so readily 
comprehended by us. But if God is love, He 
must have some equal to love, and must have 
had that equal before the creation of our pygmy 
race. "What gigantic conceit to suppose that 
man, the tiny ant, the dust of creation, is ade- 
quate to supply the love needs of an infinite 
God ! And how impossible to regard the Deity 
as the embodiment of love if, during the end- 



Why We Believe in the Trinity 109 

less ages before creation, He was only a single 
conscious person, " playing an endless game of 
solitaire " ! 

Moreover, as the existence of the Son eter- 
nally with the Father assures us of a God of 
love, so the existence with those two of the 
Holy Spirit discloses the ideal family and state, 
the perfect society. A one-person Deity could 
not be a social Deity, and would therefore lead 
an imperfect life. He could love only Himself, 
serve only Himself. He would be incapable of 
the highest existence, which is social and not 
isolated. In these days of social thinking and 
social applications of religion this argument 
should have especial weight with all earnest 
men and women. 

How does this doctrine of the Trinity take up 
into itself half -views of truth ? 

It accepts the truth of the unity of God 
insisted upon by the Unitarian and the Mo- 
hammedan, and clothes it with warmth and 
motion and likeness to our humanity, which is 
made in the image of God. 

It accepts the truth of the deist, who insists 
upon a supreme Maker of all things, sitting 
upon a distant throne with the reins of law in 
His hands ; and shows that this Maker and 
Lawgiver is the eternal Father, eternally up- 



1 1 o Why We Believe the Bible 

holding His justice and authority, but in mercy 
and in love. 

It accepts the truth of the pantheist, who 
sees in all things and forces and events an 
omnipresent but coldly impersonal Deity ; and 
it shows that this Deity is the Holy Spirit 
proceeding from the Father, a person who is 
the source and the animating vigor of all 
beauty and truth and power in the universe 
over which the Father reigns. 

And it accepts the truth of the polytheist, 
who encloses his deity in clay and wood and 
stone, making the dimly apprehended Godhead 
visible in fire and tree and dumb beast as well 
as in the clumsy idols, the work of his own 
hands ; for it shows us the infinite Father en- 
tering human clay, embodying Himself in 
earthly limitations, so that men can see and hear 
and their hands can handle the Word of life. 

Thus, in the deepest analysis, it is this truth 
of the Trinity which renders Christianity the 
ultimate religion, meeting the needs of all 
types of thought, and fulfilling in its revelation 
the dim adumbrations of all the crude, antic- 
ipatory gropings after God. 

What should he our personal relation to this 
doctrine of the Trinity ? 

We should not allow it to confuse us. We 



Why We Believe in the Trinity 1 1 1 

have an entire right to think of God in terms 
of the Father, or of Christ, or of the Spirit, as 
best meets our present need. The Father is in 
His world everywhere. Christ has never left 
or forsaken His followers. We may pray to 
Christ, or to the Spirit, or to the Father ; or to 
God without thought of His personalities. 

But also we should not allow ourselves to 
miss Christ's purpose for the world in obtain- 
ing from the Father the presence here of the 
Holy Spirit, to guide us, to comfort us, to in- 
spire us, to be in every Christian all that Christ 
could be if He dwelt in our house and walked 
ever at our side. Here, in our hearts, if we 
will, is the glorious Being whom Christ, with 
the Father, loves supremely ; the Being for 
whose honor Christ is supremely jealous, blas- 
phemy against whom is the one unpardonable 
sin ; the Being who can represent the Deity 
even better than Christ could, because unfet- 
tered by the trammels of the flesh ; the Being 
who is eager, outreaching love, strengthening 
us with all power and wisdom. We know 
Christ well. Through Him we have come to 
know the Father. It is our saddest loss if we 
do not also through Christ come to know this 
blessed Spirit, through whom it is our God's 
good pleasure to dwell with men. 




CHAPTEE XIII 
WHY WE BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION 

HY is it especially important 
to prove Christ's resurrection? 
Because He laid so much 
emphasis upon it. Because the 
apostles made it the basis of 
their teaching. Because upon 
the proof of it depends the proof — and the only 
proof — of human immortality. 

How can we answer the argument that Christ 
Quay have swooned upon the cross and not really 
have died at all ? 

It is wholly unlikely that He, so weak that 
He could not carry the cross, could have sur- 
vived the long agony of crucifixion. The com- 
ing of blood and water from the spear-wound 
in His side indicated, so physicians say, a rup- 
tured heart. And if this theory were true, 
what became of Christ ? When did He really 
die ? If He lived it must have been in hiding, 
and He and His disciples must have been carry- 
ing on an acted lie, something it is impossible 
to conceive in connection with our Lord. Nor 
would the apostles, in that case, have gone 

112 



Why We Believe in the Resurrection 1 1 3 

forth and risked their lives in preaching the 
truth of the resurrection. 

How can we answer the Jewish theory that 
Christ s body was removed from the tomb by 
His disciples, and that therefore the tomb was 
found empty ? 

By pointing to the Eoman guard, for whom 
it would have been death to sleep at their post. 
And especially by pointing to the noble char- 
acters of the disciples. "Would John, or Peter, 
or James have connived at such a fraud ? 
They gave their lives in defence of truth, and 
in allegiance to Him whom they called " the 
Truth." 

How can we answer the theory that Christ s 
body was stolen from the tomb by His enemies ? 

They would have brought forward the 
body, as soon as the Christians began to talk 
of the resurrection, and thus have convicted 
the Christians of falsehood; and we should 
have had a record of their doing so. Indeed, 
such a proof would have nipped Christianity in 
the bud. 

How can tee answer the theory that the 
disciples only imagined they saw the risen 
Lord? 

They were not expecting to see Him, as the 



114 Why We Believe the Bible 

record shows, but were surprised and incredu- 
lous. They would not have recorded their 
doubt, such as that of Thomas, and of the two 
at Emmaus, and of all the apostles (Luke 24 : 
11), unless the doubt had been a reality, for 
it was not at all to their credit. There was no 
time to work themselves up to the state of 
ecstasy that sees visions, for Christ rose on the 
third day. They could not have been self- 
hypnotized into such a belief, for at one time 
the risen Christ was seen by more than five 
hundred at once. All the circumstances point 
to the bodily resurrection of Christ, — the linen 
cloths lying like a chrysalis, the head-cloths 
apart from the rest and rolled as if the head 
were still in them ; the showing of hands and 
feet ; the eating of food in the upper room ; 
the offer to Thomas to place his hand on the 
spear-print ; the fire on the shore of the lake 
and the distribution of the bread and fish to 
the hungry disciples. 

How do the cvpostles hear witness to the resur- 
rection of Christ f 

A study of the records of the early church, 
especially of the Acts, shows that " Jesus and 
the resurrection " (Acts 17 : 18) was the sub- 
stance of the Christian message at that time. 



Why We Believe in the Resurrection 115 

Their testimony started from that crowning 
miracle, and was based upon it. They could 
not have been mistaken in this matter. They 
would not have based their entire life upon 
it without sufficient investigation and proof. 
They had ample opportunities for investigation 
and everything at stake, with absolutely no 
selfish inducements to prejudice them in favor 
of acceptance. The truth of the resurrection 
was forced upon them, and their acceptance 
might well be conclusive with us, if we had no 
other argument. 

What proof of the resurrection from the 
seeming discrepancies in the narratives, and 
their confusion ? 

It is quite impossible to make out an exact 
order of events for Easter morning, or to be 
sure of the way in which Christ rose, the angels 
gave His message, or the various visitors 
arrived at the tomb. These, however, are all 
minor matters, and if in minor particulars the 
five accounts (including Paul's) had exactly 
agreed, that agreement would have condemned 
them. For it was early morning. The dis- 
ciples were scattered over the city. They were 
worn with watching and with grief. They 
were not acting in concert. They were com- 
pletely dazed by the unexpected event. Every 



li6 Why We Believe the Bible 

judge or lawyer will tell you how difficult it is 
for even trained observers to agree on small 
points. The different leading actors in the 
battle of Waterloo fix for the beginning of the 
battle times a number of hours apart ; yet no 
one doubts that the battle occurred. The very 
confusion in the accounts of the resurrection, 
so far as concerns minor matters, is entirely 
natural ; and while false Gospels would have 
avoided it, genuine Gospels, independently 
written, could hardly have helped falling 
into it. 

What proof of the resurrection from the little 
details of the accounts ? 

These narratives, brief and simple as they 
are, abound in graphic touches that appeal 
to us at once as coining from eye-witnesses. 
These are such as Mary's thinking that Christ 
was the gardener ; His forbidding her to touch 
Him; John's outrunning Peter to the tomb, 
but hesitating there in awe while the more im- 
pulsive Peter rushes in first after all ; the 
breaking of bread at Emmaus ; the episode of 
Thomas's doubt, and of Peter's swimming to 
the shore to meet his Lord by the lake, and 
John's following after Christ as He walks 
away with Peter, — all so characteristic of these 
disciples. What legend would have invented 



Why We Believe in the Resurrection 1 1 7 

these touches ? What false chronicler would 
have thought to introduce them ? 

How do mythical accounts of the resurrection 
confirm the Gospel accounts ? 

By the remarkable contrast. The legendary 
accounts of later times are good examples of 
myths. For example, take the following false 
account of the resurrection as written in the 
so-called " Gospel of Peter," written in the 
second century and discovered (or at least a 
fragment of it) in the winter of 1886-1887 : 
" In the night before the Lord's Day, the 
soldiers being on guard two and two about, 
there arose a great voice in heaven ; and they 
saw the heavens opened, and two men descend- 
ing thence with great light and approaching 
the tomb. And that stone which had been 
placed at the door rolled away of itself to 
one side, and the tomb was laid open, and 
both the young men went in. On seeing this, 
the sentinels woke the centurion and the elders 
(for they also were on the watch) ; and while 
they were relating what they had seen, they 
saw again coming out of the tomb three men, 
the two supporting the one, and, following 
them, a cross. And of the two the head 
reached the heaven, but that of him whom 
they led overpassed the heaven. And they 



n8 Why We Believe the Bible 

heard a voice out of heaven saying, ' Hast thou 
preached obedience to them that sleep ? ' And 
from the cross came answer, ' Yes. ? " 

Notice the absence of non-essential miracle 
in the true accounts, and see how this false 
account bristles with miraculous elements that 
are grotesque and exaggerated. In the true 
account the miraculous element is simple, un- 
forced, springing easily and naturally from the 
circumstances, and plainly inevitable. In this 
false account the miraculous element is unre- 
lated to character and unexplained by any of 
the necessities of the case. Wo one can rea- 
sonably regard the Gospel accounts of the 
resurrection as mythical if he studies the un- 
doubted myths of that great event. 

What proof of the resurrection from the first 
appearance to women f 

Women were looked down upon in those 
days. Christianity has raised them to such a 
height of honor that it is difficult to understand 
the tremendous improbability that any false 
account of the resurrection would represent 
the risen Messiah as showing Himself first to 
a group of women, and especially showing 
Himself first alone to such a woman as Mary 
Magdalene. Any fabricator of a Gospel, or 
any legendary account, would have made 



Why We Believe in the Resurrection 119 

Christ, coming from the grave, appear first to 
the Sanhedrim in session, or to Pilate or 
Herod, or at least to John or Peter or James, 
the leading apostles. But to a handful of 
women! — the fact, though we see its beauty 
and fitness, is one that never was born of the 
imagination of those days. 

What proof of the resurrection from the 
number of appearances of Christ ? 

There were ten or eleven of these appear- 
ances, not counting that to Paul on the Da- 
mascus road. They were to women and men, 
to solitary persons, as Mary Magdalene, Peter, 
and James, to the two of Emmaus, to the ten 
disciples^ to the eleven, to the seven by the 
lake, to more than five hundred. They were 
in many places and under many circumstances : 
near the tomb, in the upper room, on the 
highway, by the Sea of Galilee, on a moun- 
tain in Galilee, on the Mount of Olives. It 
is impossible to explain away so many appear- 
ances. 

What proof of the resurrection in the ces- 
sation of appearances ? 

If it had all been a myth and superstition, 
it would have grown instead of diminishing 
with the lapse of time ; but the appearances 



1 20 Why We Believe the Bible 

of the risen Saviour, numerous at first, diminish 
rapidly during the following days, and after 
forty days they cease altogether with the 
ascension. Myths would increase in number 
and complexity with the growth of imagination 
and the passage of time. 

What proof of the resurrection from the 
change wrought in the disciples ? 

Before the resurrection, according to their 
own accounts, the disciples were timid and 
distrustful. At the arrest they all forsook 
Jesus. Peter denied Him. After the resur- 
rection they preached Christ so boldly that 
three thousand converts were won in a day. 
By a sight of the risen Christ Paul was trans- 
formed from a bitter persecutor into an ardent 
apostle. Paul possessed the most lawyerlike of 
minds. Peter and John and James, Matthew 
and Mark and Luke, were men of exceptional 
ability. It is impossible to account for their 
changed attitude unless Christ really rose from 
the dead. 

What conclusion do ice draw from these con- 
clusive proofs of the resurrection ? 

The resurrection of Christ is the best 
attested fact of history. The proof of it proves 
Christ's prophetic power, for He foretold it. 



Why We Believe in the Resurrection 121 

It confirms the miracles, since none was so 
great as this; and if this occurred, surely 
every one of them might easily occur. It 
proves the divinity of Christ, since surely no 
one but the Creator of life could have this 
power over death. 



CHAPTER XIY 




WHY WE BELIEVE THAT THE GOSPELS 

WERE WRITTEN BY MATTHEW, 

MARK, LUKE, AND JOHN 

HAT are the reasons given hy 
those that lelieve that Matthew 
did not write the first Gospel ? 
The fact that Papias (A. D. 
130) and other ancient writers 
state that Matthew wrote his 
Gospel in Hebrew (Aramaic), while our Gospel 
is in Greek. 

The fact that Matthew seems to have made 
use of Mark's Gospel, which is not what we 
should have expected from an eye-witness and 
apostle. 

The alleged absence from the Gospel of the 
graphic touches that would have been intro- 
duced by an eye-witness. 

How Quay these arguments he answered f 

Matthew may easily have written a Greek 
translation of his Hebrew Gospel. There is no 
doubt that most, if not all, of the ancient 
writers that spoke of Matthew's writing in 
Hebrew actually used our Greek Matthew. 

122 



The Gospels 123 

The Hebrew Gospel, being understood by few, 
would be far less likely than the Greek Gospel 
to be preserved along with the other Greek 
writings of the New Testament. 

As to the portions common to Matthew and 
Mark, it is quite reasonable to suppose that the 
two writers worked upon them together, com- 
bining their memories. 

As to the more formal and rather impersonal 
character of the Gospel, we must remember 
that it is an argument as to Christ's Messiah- 
ship, and does not pretend to be a biography of 
Christ or a history of the acts of our Lord and 
His disciples. 

What are the positive reasons for believing 
that Matthew wrote the first Gospel? 

The universal belief of antiquity. Matthew 
was an obscure apostle. It is very unlikely 
that so important a book would have been at- 
tributed to this little-known apostle unless he 
actually wrote it. 

The keeping of an account is just what we 
might expect from a tax-gatherer. He may 
well have been more expert with his pen than 
any of the fishermen around him. 

One of the most striking indications of Mat- 
thew's authorship is the modest way in which 
he speaks of himself, — only a single verse given 



124 Why We Believe the Bible 

to his conversion ! Then, though he mentions 
the feast which Christ attended soon after- 
ward and reports what Christ said there, he 
does not say that it is a feast which he himself 
gave in his own house. Luke and Mark both 
tell us this, and Luke adds that it was " a great 
feast." This evident reticence of Matthew (and 
was it also a sense of his unworthiness as a re- 
formed publican?) w^ould abundantly account 
for the absence of personal reminiscences from 
his Gospel. 

It is significant, too, that Matthew's Gospel 
is the one that reports most of Christ's merci- 
ful words about publicans, and tells most about 
our Lord's association with that despised class. 
It is significant also that Matthew did not re- 
port the visit of Jesus to the house of that 
" chief publican," Zacchseus, and that Luke did. 

In any event, it is well to remember that all 
scholars believe that the precious nucleus of the 
first Gospel, the sayings of Christ, comes from 
the pen of Matthew, through translation or 
otherwise ; and also that the Gospel as we have 
it was written within forty years after the 
crucifixion. 

What is the testimony of Pwpias {A. D. 130) 
about the authorship of the second Gospel ? 

It is clear and conclusive. He says : " Mark, 



The Gospels 125 

having become Peter's interpreter [or secretary], 
wrote accurately but not in order whatsoever 
things he [Peter] remembered — namely, the 
things which had been said or done by Christ. 
For he [Mark] neither heard the Lord nor fol- 
lowed Him. But afterward, as I said, he fol- 
lowed Peter, who used to frame his instructions 
to meet his [immediate] needs, and did not, as 
it were, attempt to frame an orderly account of 
the Lord's words. So that Mark made no mis- 
take, when he thus wrote certain things as he 
[Peter] remembered them. For he made one 
thing his care, not to omit to record anything 
that he had heard, or to set down anything 
false among them." This testimony is con- 
firmed by the other ancient writers, and is be- 
lieved by practically all modern scholars. 

How does the second Gospel itself indicate this 
origin ? 

It is a simple, plain account, with no argumen- 
tative purpose such as Matthew and John keep 
in view. It is full of Peter's energy and fire. It 
bears everywhere the marks of an eye-witness, 
and in very many places a comparison of Mark's 
account with those of the other evangelists will 
show numerous little touches that prove the 
keenness of Peter's perception and the fidelity 
of his memory. It records Christ's own 



126 Why We Believe the Bible 

Aramaic words in a number of places, and 
its occasional use of Latin words confirms the 
tradition that Mark wrote the Gospel when he 
and Peter were in Eome. Peter, however well 
he could talk, would not be likely, being a 
fisherman well along in years, to write easily ; 
and Mark, being a young man of good family, 
would make an excellent amanuensis and re- 
porter. 

What does the Muratorian Canon say about 
Luke? 

This ancient account of the New Testament, 
written about 170 A. D., has these words : " The 
third book of the Gospel, ' according to Luke,' 
Luke, the physician, composed after the ascen- 
sion of Christ, when Paul had taken him with 
him as the companion of his journeying, in his 
own name from hearsay (he had not himself 
seen the Lord in the flesh), and as best he 
could, beginning with the birth of John." This 
is the first mention of Luke as the author of 
the third Gospel. All other mentions and 
traditions agree with this, and Luke's author- 
ship is generally admitted by modern scholars. 

What other reasons are therefor believing that 
Luke wrote the Gospel f 

It has been proved, by a comparison of lan- 
guage and thought, that the writer of the Acts 



The Gospels 127 

wrote the Gospel also, and for the same person, 
Theophilus. The " we " passages in the Acts 
show that the author was a companion of Paul. 
Luke the physician was Paul's most constant 
companion ; and at the last (2 Tim. 4 : 11) was 
his only companion. It is natural that a physi- 
cian should be a writer. The wide scope of 
Luke's travels shows itself in the scope of the 
Gospel, its references to the history of Syria 
and Eome, and its large outlook upon the 
Gentile world. The many references in the 
Gospel to the salvation of the lost take in the 
whole world, and not Palestine alone. Luke's 
Gospel and Paul's first letter to the Corinthians 
contain the only references to Christ's appear- 
ance to Peter alone after the resurrection. 
Especially noteworthy are the medical touches 
given throughout the Gospel, the use of tech- 
nical physicians' terms, and the noting of little 
points that only a physician would note, partic- 
ularly in connection with the miracles of heal- 
ing. Thus also it is no accident that Luke's 
Gospel gives the fullest account of the birth of 
Christ, and that it says most about women and 
expresses the deepest consideration for them. 

Where and when, probably, did Luke get his 
material ? 

He had several opportunities of first-hand 



128 Why We Believe the Bible 

gathering of information of which we know, 
and probably many of which we do not know, 
in those days when the original disciples were 
scattered everywhere by persecution. His most 
extended period for the gaining of material in 
Palestine would be the two years of Paul's im- 
prisonment at Caesarea, during which Luke 
seems to have been in attendance upon him. 

What are the reasons given by those that be- 
lieve that John the Apostle did not write the 
fourth Gospel? 

Principally the following : That a familiar 
companion of Jesus would not have the pro- 
found reverence for Him as Deity that is shown 
everywhere in the fourth Gospel. That the 
view of Christ is developed further than that of 
the other three Gospels. That the speeches of 
Jesus in the fourth Gospel are in the writer's 
own style. That the fourth Gospel represents 
Christ's ministry as lasting three years, while 
the other Gospels tell of only one year ; that it 
describes several visits to Jerusalem and one 
tour in Perea which the other Gospels say 
nothing about ; that it represents the cruci- 
fixion as taking place before the Passover, 
while the other Gospels place it after the Pass- 
over. 



The Gospels 129 

How are these arguments answered f 

The other Gospels are as emphatic as John's 
in affirming the deity of Jesus, though they say 
comparatively little about it, since their pur- 
pose was historical, or, as in the case of Mat- 
thew, to discuss the fulfillment of prophecy. 
Since the fourth Gospel was written twenty or 
thirty years after the others, it is reasonable to 
find in it a clearer and more profound view of 
Christ. But, after all, John's presentation of 
Christ has no clearer exhibition of His divine 
nature than the writings of Paul and Peter two 
decades earlier. As to the report of Christ's 
sayings, if we grant that John wrote the 
Gospel, certainly we must admit that he had 
unrivalled opportunities of hearing Christ, and 
we may well have entire confidence in his re- 
port. Is it not, besides, far more reasonable to 
suppose that the master mind of Christ molded 
John's style than to suppose that John's style 
colored the reported sayings of his Lord ? As 
to the length of Christ's ministry, the first 
three Gospels do not say how long it was. 
John had a home in Jerusalem, to which he 
took Mary after the crucifixion. He seems to 
have been acquainted with persons in the high 
priest's household. His business may well have 
brought him to Jerusalem occasionally, and he 



130 Why We Believe the Bible 

may have been the only disciple with Jesus on 
these Judasan visits. As to the time of the 
crucifixion, many think that our Lord, knowing 
that He was to die on the next day, celebrated 
the Passover on Thursday instead of Friday 
evening. Thus what the other evangelists call 
the Passover, because it was their Passover, 
John properly speaks of as before the Passover 
(of the Jews). 

What are the positive reasons for believing in 
John's authorship of the fourth Gospel ? 

The unanimous and emphatic testimony of 
the ancient world. The evidence here is greater 
than for the authorship of any other book of 
the Bible. It begins with the very earliest of 
the Christian writers, and extends in an unin- 
terrupted flow of quotations, allusions, and 
direct acknowledgment of John's authorship. 

The proved identity of authorship with the 
Epistles attributed to John — Epistles which fit 
in perfectly with what we know of John's life 
as bishop of Ephesus and his exile on Patmos. 
A similar argument applies to the Revelation. 

The traditional purpose of John in writing 
his Gospel was to supplement the other three. 
At any rate, it does markedly supplement them, 
and thus falls in with the tradition that it was 



The Gospels 131 

written by John in his great old age, perhaps 
thirty years after the first three Gospels were 
published. Very little in John's Gospel is 
found in the others at all. Where John re- 
peats, it is with a purpose connected with the 
general design of his book. For instance, he 
relates the feeding of the five thousand, but in 
order to introduce the discourse on the Bread 
of life, which the other evangelists had not re- 
ported. But John relates six miracles not 
related*by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, especially 
the raising of Lazarus, whom, on account of the 
hatred of the Jews, it was probably not safe 
to mention earlier, during his lifetime. All 
through his Gospel John takes for granted a 
host of particulars of the greatest importance, 
such as the appointment of the Twelve, Christ's 
baptism and ascension, our Lord's birth at 
Bethlehem and of the tribe of Judah, and the 
institution of baptism and of the Lord's supper. 
John refers to these matters only incidentally, 
as knowing that his readers have them already 
from authoritative sources — the other three 
Gospels. 

The writer's mention of John the Baptist as 
simply " John," as John the apostle alone 
could. The other evangelists add "the 
Baptist " to prevent the confusion. 

The fact that, though the fourth Gospel 



132 Why We Believe the Bible 

records the words of such little-known apostles 
as Philip, Andrew, Thomas, and Judas not 
Iscariot, it never mentions by name the great 
and honored apostle John, whom the other 
evangelists picture as so close to Christ. But 
the writer of the Gospel speaks of himself as 
" the disciple whom Jesus loved," and introduces 
this disciple in such a way, over and over, as to 
leave no doubt that John is meant. 

The fact that the author of the fourth Gospel 
was evidently a Jew, laying stress on the Jewish 
feasts, showing close familiarity with Jewish 
customs, and picturing Christ as deeply solicitous 
for the Jewish nation, while at the same time 
the writer makes such references to the Jews as 
to indicate that he was no longer living among 
them, but among the Gentiles. 

The fact that the fourth Gospel takes no 
cognizance of the important Gnostic heresies 
early in the second century, but freely plays 
into their hands, affording them material easily 
twisted into support of their absurd notions. 
This shows that the Gospel was not a product 
of the second century or later. 

The thousands of minute particulars which 
only an eye-witness could have gleaned. 

The way in which, in the last chapter, the 
writer treats the current belief that John would 
live till Christ's second coming is perfectly in 



The Gospels 133 

harmony with the theory that the book was 
written in John's extreme age. 

The spiritual sympathy of the writer with 
Jesus Christ, the intense feeling that pulses 
through every chapter, the burning zeal that is 
only restrained by the wisdom of experience — 
all of this points irresistibly to John as the 
writer. And if, indeed, the fourth Gospel was 
not written by John the apostle, who among 
the sons of men could have written it ? 

What are we to conclude from this study ? 

That we may read the four Gospels with 
absolute confidence, knowing that two of the 
authors were intimate friends of Jesus, a third 
the secretary of another intimate friend, while 
the fourth, an educated man and a friend of 
Paul, enjoyed exceptional opportunities for 
learning all the facts. 




CHAPTEE XV 
THE EVIDENCE OF PAUL 

HAT facts made PauVs con- 
version to Christianity very 
unlikely f 

He was a man of exalted 
station and influence among 
the Jews, and of fine educa- 
tion, who would naturally despise the humble 
and unlettered followers of Jesus. He had 
been trained in the strict sect of the Pharisees, 
who were Christ's bitter enemies. The seeing 
and hearing of Christ might have removed his 
prejudices, but he had never seen or heard Him. 
He became the most bigoted and powerful op- 
ponent of Christianity, persecuting, as he said, 
" this Way unto the death, binding and deliver- 
ing into prisons both men and women." ISTo 
man on earth would seem more unlikely than 
Paul to be converted to Christianity, still less to 
become its most ardent and successful advocate. 

How may we he sure of the supernatural 
character of PauVs vision of Christ on the way 
to Damascus f 

We have three detailed accounts of it, by a 
*34 



The Evidence of Paul 135 

careful historian, Paul's close companion ; two 
of these are in Paul's own words. The ac- 
counts do not describe a trance and a dream, but 
a sudden startling appearance accompanied by- 
sound, seen and heard by all the company, and 
followed by a blindness from which Paul was 
only recovered (and that but partially) by su- 
pernatural healing. Paul may have had mis- 
givings of conscience, especially after hearing 
Stephen's defence and witnessing his death; 
but he was in the very height of his mad frenzy 
against the Christians. " I verily thought with 
myself," he said afterward, " that I ought to do 
many things contrary to the name of Jesus of 
Nazareth " ; and he wrote to Timothy that his 
persecutions were made " ignorantly, in unbe- 
lief." There is no reason, therefore, for think- 
ing that this vision of the glorified Christ was 
the outgrowth of Paul's own mind. It was to- 
tally unexpected and unprepared for. And it 
was so real that henceforth Paul counted him- 
self among those that had actually seen the 
risen Lord. 

How does PauVs conversion prove the Gospel 
account ? 

It entirely transformed his character and his 
life. It changed him from a bitter persecutor 
to a humble, loving, patient, forgiving Chris- 



136 Why We Believe the Bible 

tian. It broadened his bigoted Pharisaism till 
he became the apostle to the Gentiles. It con- 
vinced his lawyerlike, analytical mind so posi- 
tively of the reality of Christ's resurrection and 
deity that henceforth we see no shadow of 
doubt in his life, but only the most passionate 
zeal for the spread of the Gospel. This zeal 
caused Paul to break utterly from his former 
friends and associates, his home and relatives 
and comfortable fortune, and cast in his lot 
with the once-despised Christians, who made no 
rejoicing over him, but admitted him to their 
circle reluctantly and suspiciously. It is unbe- 
lievable that anything but truth and the most 
complete truth in the story of Christ could 
have wrought this wonderful transformation. 
This occurred, it must be remembered, within 
four years of the crucifixion, before myths or 
legends could grow up, and while all the facts 
were fresh. The Gospels had not yet been 
written; but even if they had never been 
written, this single event of the conversion 
of Paul would suffice to prove the deity of 
Christ. 

How do PauVs miracles prove the Gos- 
pels ? 

In his Epistles, that all scholars accept as 
genuine, Paul claims to have wrought miracles. 



The Evidence of Paul 137 

No one believes that he would make such a 
claim without good ground for it. Luke, Paul's 
companion, details in the Acts some of those 
miracles. Christ had told His apostles that 
they should work miracles, and Paul speaks of 
his own miracles as "signs of an apostle." If 
the miracles of the apostles are granted, the 
miracles and the divine power and nature of 
Christ follow of necessity. 

How does PauVs career prove the truth of 
Christianity ? 

It shows in a conspicuous way, and right at 
the outset of Christian history, that divine 
Providence was in charge of the new enter- 
prise. Paul was plainly guided by the Holy 
Spirit. This was shown by his preservation in 
the midst of a thousand perils, his sudden re- 
covery from stoning, the earthquake at the 
Philippi prison, and many similar deliverances. 
Paul was supernaturally guided into Europe, 
there to plant Christianity in the most receptive 
soil. Paul was manifestly helped by God to win 
over powerful opponents, to speak effectively, 
and to compose the most eloquent and pro- 
foundly thoughtful religious treatises ever writ- 
ten. It is inconceivable that all this could 
spring from any source except the authentic 
Gospel story to which Paul credited it. 



138 Why We Believe the Bible 

What is PauVs witness to Christ ? 

Paul's writings constitute the earliest testi- 
mony to the deity of Jesus Christ ; and in con- 
vincing power they have never been excelled, ex- 
cept by the Gospel of John. Paul was a learned 
student of the Old Testament prophecies, and 
beheld them all fulfilled in Christ. He was fa- 
miliar with the ancient sacrifices performed in 
the Temple, and he saw in Christ both the 
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world 
and the eternal High Priest, the divine Media- 
tor between God and man. Paul beheld the 
truth of the atonement more clearly than any 
other New Testament writer, and has shown it 
in matchless beauty and power to the world. 
There is no phase of the deity of Jesus Christ 
that may not be illustrated from the writings 
of this convinced contemporary of Jesus' earthly 
life. 

What is PauVs testimony as to the resurrec- 
tion ? 

In the unquestioned Epistle to the Galatians 
Paul tells of his intercourse with Peter, James, 
and John, the three chief apostles. From them 
he would surely have learned about the resur- 
rection of Christ. In another undoubtedly au- 
thentic Epistle,; the first to the Corinthians, 



The Evidence of Paul 139 

Paul gives a list of the appearances of Christ 
after His resurrection. This list, made out on 
the best possible authority and before the Gos- 
pels were written, agrees substantially with the 
Gospel accounts, differing from them just 
enough to confirm our faith in it as an inde- 
pendent and genuine record. The testimony 
as to the resurrection was sufficient not only to 
convince Paul, who surely carried out his own 
advice to " prove all things," but also to make 
the resurrection the starting-point in Paul's 
preaching on theology, and the frequent themes 
of his letters. " If Christ hath not been raised," 
he wrote, " your faith is vain ; ye are yet in your 
sins. But now hath Christ been raised from 
the dead, the first fruits of them that are 
asleep." 

What is PauVs testimony as to the Bible ? 

It is strong and unfaltering in its belief that 
the Bible is divinely inspired. In Paul's last 
Epistle he writes to Timothy: "Every Scrip- 
ture inspired of God [i. <?., " being inspired of 
God," as the Greek shows] is also profitable 
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for 
instruction." He calls the Scriptures "the 
oracles of God." He uses the Scriptures (re- 
member that he had only the Old Testament) 
in such a way as to show his belief in their 



140 Why We Believe the Bible 

prophecies, and his reverence for their divine 
authority. 

What conclusion is to be drawn from PauVs 
life and writings f 

Christianity could not have found, among all 
the men that have ever lived, a more effective 
advocate than Paul, or one whose opinion re- 
garding its truth deserves to carry greater 
weight. It is often charged, by infidels and 
the so-called " liberal " thinkers, that Paul even 
created Christian theology by his powerful 
writings. This is not true ; every point in his 
theology is harmonious with the thought of the 
other JSTew Testament writers. It is true, how- 
ever, that Paul's masterly mind was used by 
the Holy Spirit to formulate the world's most 
complete and authoritative expression of the- 
ology ; and it is a theology that is winning the 
world to Christ. 



CHAPTER XVI 



THE EVIDENCE OF THE MARTYRS 
THE EARLY CHURCH 



AND 




HAT is the evidence of the 
Christian martyrs ? 
First, the Christians were bit- 
terly persecuted by the Jews 
in Palestine and elsewhere. 
Then, as the new religion 
spread to Rome, and the Christians refused to 
worship the emperors as gods and to support 
the heathen temples, the most bitter persecu- 
tions were inaugurated by the emperors. Nero 
burned Eome that he might rebuild it in mar- 
ble, and laid the outrage at the doors of the 
innocent Christians. To ward off the anger of 
the people he burned the Christians alive in 
great numbers, and even carried his persecu- 
tions as far as Portugal. Emperor after em- 
peror repeated the iniquity, the chief outbreaks 
of frenzied bigotry occurring in the reigns of 
Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Decius, Yalerian, 
Aurelian, and Diocletian, — three centuries of 
torture and bloodshed. All authorities admit 
the stanchness of the Christians in these trials, 

141 



142 Why We Believe the Bible 

though they had all things worldly to gain by 
a recantation. Men have been known to suffer 
torments for a superstition, but not through 
three long centuries. Every martyr, of all the 
hundreds of thousands that perished, is a new 
and convincing chapter of Christian evidences. 

What is the evidence as to the character of 
the early Christians ? 

Pliny testifies to the ideals of honesty 
and purity which the Christians entertained. 
Lucian testifies to their despising worldly goods 
and holding all things in common. Julian 
testifies to the generosity and charitableness of 
the Christians. Aristides testifies to the relia- 
bility of the Christians, their reverence for 
parents, their freedom from idolatry, their 
soberness and piety. There is much more evi- 
dence of the kind, especially as to their firm- 
ness in resisting persecution and their fidelity 
to the faith — their " obstinacy," as their enemies 
called it. 

What progress was made hy the church in the 
early centuries ? 

Tacitus, the Roman historian, states that 
Nero, in 64 A. D., tortured and killed " a great 
number " of Christians. In the time of Trajan, 
111 A. D., the younger Pliny reported to the 



The Martyrs and the Early Church 143 

emperor that there were so many Christians in 
his province of Pontus and Bithynia that the 
heathen altars were almost deserted and there 
was no market for the animals for sacrifice. 
This rapid progress continued, in spite of violent 
persecutions, until the great Roman emperor, 
Constantine, became a Christian, and, in 313 
A. D., proclaimed toleration. Soon the old 
Greek and Latin heathenism vanished. As 
Eome conquered barbarian nations, like the 
Gauls, the Germans, and the English, they in 
turn adopted Christianity. This swift winning 
of the world so soon after the advent of Chris- 
tianity, when the most thorough investigations 
were possible, strongly confirms its authen- 
ticity 

How does the rapid progress of Christianity 
compare with that of other religions f 

The rapid spread of Mohammedanism was 
due to the license it gave to many attractive sins, 
and especially to its use of force, whole nations 
being subjugated by its armies, made reckless 
by the fatalistic teachings of Mohammed: 
" You will not die, though surrounded by a 
thousand perils, till your time has come to die ; 
and then you will die, though you are in the 
midst of profound peace." Buddhism won its 
hold upon India because it was a great reform 



144 Wh y We Believe the Bible 

movement, and offered a vast improvement 
upon the corrupt Hinduism that preceded it. 
Buddhism gained its opportunity in China and 
Japan by conforming to Confucianism and 
Shintoism, thus simply adding itself to them. 
But Christianity conquered the Koman Empire 
with none of these aids, — without yielding to 
the sinful desires and practices of heathenism, 
without the use of force, without entering na- 
tional politics, and without conformity to 
idolatry and superstition. 

How does the rite of baptism confirm Chris- 
tianity ? 

Christian baptism was a new thing in the 
world. The Jews seem to have baptized the 
converts from paganism to Judaism. John the 
Baptist baptized Jews. Christian baptism is 
open to all, and always has been. It was 
established for all the world by our Lord's last 
words (Matt. 28 : 19, 20), and its maintenance 
in its original simplicity and catholicity is evi- 
dence of the continuity of our religion. 

How does the ordinance of the Lord's Supper 
prove Christianity true ? 

It is to be traced through all the early cen- 
turies, partly in the accounts of Christian 
writers, partly in the sneers of the enemies of 



The Martyrs and the Early Church 145 

Christianity, who declared that all sorts of 
horrible orgies were made a part of the cere- 
mony. It was celebrated in the form pre- 
scribed in the New Testament, as it is to-day. 
It was observed usually very early in the 
morning, before daybreak, and often daily; 
always on Sunday. The permanence of this 
institution is a Christian evidence of no slight 
value. 

How is the observance of Sunday an evidence 
of the truth of Christianity ? 

The change from the observance of the 
Jewish Sabbath or seventh day to the Chris- 
tian Sabbath or first day was made grad- 
ually, at first the Christians observing both 
days. The day on which our Lord rose from 
the dead, however, finally came to supplant 
altogether the sad day when Christ lay in the 
grave. The Bible does not record the change 
in distinct terms, but indicates by several refer- 
ences to "the Lord's day," giving it as "the 
first day of the week," that the change was 
made, and by the authority and with the prac- 
tice of the apostles. From that time on there 
is a chain of testimony to the observance of 
Sunday, reaching from the days of Paul and 
Luke (the Acts) through John (the Eevela- 
tion), " The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles " 



146 Why We Believe the Bible 

(A. D. 100), Bishop Ignatius (A. D. 110), Justin 
Martyr (A. D. 135), etc., to the Emperor Con- 
stantine, who in A. D. 321 forbade labor on 
Sunday. When we remember how ancient 
and revered an institution was the Jewish Sab- 
bath, we see that a very real and very extraor- 
dinary cause must have operated to bring it into 
disuse and substitute another day for it. The 
Lord's Day is a standing proof of the truth of 
the Gospels. 

What other Christian institutions have teen 
continuous from the first century f 

Deacons have existed from the establishment 
of the order soon after the ascension, and 
they still have the duties assigned them at 
first. All of the leading Christian denomina- 
tions perpetuate important features of the 
primitive churches, to which they trace their 
histories, — the episcopacy, presbyters, the au- 
thority of the local congregations. Thus the 
divisions of Christendom have at least an evi- 
dential value. 

What conclusion must we draw from all 
these facts ? 

That the Christian church is an institution 
with a continuous history from the days of its 
great Founder. That a large number of primi- 



The Martyrs and the Early Church 147 

tive customs, ceremonies, offices, and terms 
have come down to us unchanged from apos- 
tolic times. That this institution immediately 
proved its power over the hearts and lives of 
men, and has continued to do so through all 
the centuries since. That this unique historical 
phenomenon is to be accounted for only by the 
explanation given in the New Testament. The 
living Church is a proof of the divine Life that 
established it. 



CHAPTEE XVII 
THE EVIDENCE OF MODERN MISSIONS 




W do mission lands prove the 
falsity of other religions than 
Christianity ? 

Hinduism is no better than 

India, nor Mohammedanism 

than Turkey, nor Buddhism 

nor Confucianism than China. 

lecturers may enunciate plau- 



than Tibet, 
Philosophical 
sible doctrines and relate beautiful poetic fables 
from these religions, but the ugly facts of 
heathenism give the lie to their claims. These 
religions countenance human slavery, infanti- 
cide, the neglect of parents, the burning of 
widows. They are lustful and cruel. They 
breed superstitions the most grotesque. They 
foster the most bitter spirit of caste. They are 
stagnant, non-progressive. They are ignorant, 
conceited, exclusive. They rear the most self- 
ish and greedy hierarchies. They are inhuman 
toward women and children, the weak and 
the aged. They are the ready tools of the 
ambitious and the powerful oppressors of the 
poor. And wherever they show anything bet- 

148 



The Evidence of Modern Missions 149 

ter than these characteristics it is because they 
have met the onrushing forces of Christianity, 
and have been forced by the instinct of self- 
preservation into the semblance of reform. 

What does the introduction of Christianity 
do for a country ? 

What it has done and is doing for China. 
There it has elevated women so that schools 
for female education are springing up every- 
where. It is doing away with f ootbinding. It 
is abolishing infanticide. It is replacing the 
foolish "education" of the olden times with 
modern schools and colleges. It is establish- 
ing newspapers. It is building railroads and 
telegraph and telephone lines. It is establish- 
ing post-offices. It is abolishing the use of 
opium. It is taking away the conceit of igno- 
rance and isolation. It is founding a constitu- 
tional monarchy, with all the instrumentalities 
of representative government. It is driving out 
the barbarities of superstitious "medicine" and 
putting in its place the modern physician, sur- 
geon, and hospital. It is caring for the blind, 
the poor, and the orphan. It is establishing 
just courts, humane punishments, and decent 
prisons. All of these wonderful changes that 
are going on before our eyes in the world's 
most populous empire are the direct fruit of 



150 Why We Believe the Bible 

Christianity. They are precisely like what 
Christianity has done and is doing in India, 
Burma, Siam, Japan, Korea, Persia, Turkey, 
Africa, the islands, and everywhere else where 
it has had a chance. And by its fruits ye shall 
know it. 

How do missionaries regard the Bible ? 

They are men and women of the Book. They 
were made missionaries by imbibing its spirit 
and obeying its precepts. It is their missionary 
text-book, their constant comfort and inspira- 
tion. That picture of Walter Lowrie, calmly 
reading his Bible in the midst of an attack by 
Chinese pirates, and continuing to read it till 
they threw him into the sea, is a picture of all 
missionaries. And thus the first work of mis- 
sions in all lands has been to translate the Bible 
into the native tongues, often into languages 
that have never before been reduced to writing, 
so that now the Bible exists in five hundred of 
the world's languages and dialects. 

How does the Bible prove itself on mission 
fields ? 

A Chinese villager bought a Bible, and got 
to reading it. During the next three years, 
with no visit from a missionary or any other 
Christian teacher, the leaven spread until a 



The Evidence of Modern Missions 151 

church was organized consisting of some of the 
leading citizens, and a surprised missionary was 
summoned to give his approval. This account 
could be duplicated over and over from mis- 
sionary annals. Many a time merely a torn 
scrap of a Gospel has converted a soul. Bible 
colporters everywhere prove to be the best 
missionary agents. The sacred books of other 
religions do not possess this wonderful vitaliz- 
ing and convincing power. That our Bible 
does possess it and continually exercise it is 
evidence of its unique character and its super- 
natural inspiration. 

How do missionary experiences prove the truth 
of the Bible ? 

The Bible is full of special providences, prov- 
ing God's care for His saints ; so is missionary 
history. Bead the accounts of the thousands 
of deliverances experienced by John G. Paton, 
by James Chalmers, by Moffat and Livingstone, 
by Allen Gardiner and Adoniram Judson, and 
by hundreds and thousands of the heroes of 
the cross besides, and you will find the expe- 
riences of the Bible characters duplicated over 
and over, and the Bible promises marvellously 
confirmed. To be sure, some of these mis- 
sionaries became martyrs, when God's time ar- 
rived; but so did Paul and Peter and Christ 



152 Why We Believe the Bible 

Himself. Even in their deaths they bore wit- 
ness to the supernatural upholding of their 
religion. 

How do the native Christians prove the truth 
of Christianity f 

In the same way as the early martyrs. Dur- 
ing the horrible massacres in Turkey in 1894-6 
more than 40,000 Armenian Christians were 
slain, and tens of thousands more were tor- 
tured in all the inhuman ways the fiendish 
Turks and Kurds could devise. They bore it 
all rather than deny Christ. During the Boxer 
massacres in China in 1899-1900 fully 30,000 
native Christians met a horrible death with 
the most sublime fortitude. In Madagascar, in 
1835, the native Christians were slain with all 
imaginable cruelty, — by poison, by hurling from 
cliffs, by burning, stoning, boiling, — but when 
the missionaries came back, after a quarter of 
a century of these persecutions, they found 
four times as many Christians as they had left 
in the entire island. There is not a mission 
field, at home or abroad, that has not similar 
records of heroic fidelity. This is not to be 
compared to Moslem fanaticism, based upon 
ignorance and superstition, for Christian mis- 
sionaries drive out superstition and establish 
schools wherever they go. There is only one 



The Evidence of Modern Missions 153 

possible reason, and that is loyalty to divine 
truth, and to Him who was the Truth incar- 
nate and remains the Living Truth forever. 

How do the triumphs of modem missions 
prove the Bible f 

In India, after long and disappointing work 
in the " Lone Star " Telugu mission, 2,222 tested 
native converts were baptized in a single day 
and 9,000 had been received by the end of six 
months. Such Pentecosts have come over and 
over, in Hawaii, in Africa, in China, in Japan, 
in Australia, in America, in England and Wales, 
to reward God's faithful witnesses. Missions 
have fittingly been called "the new Acts of 
the Apostles." The revivals in the home land 
and on the mission fields have worked genuine 
miracles of regeneration, transforming lives in 
such a way as to prove beyond question the 
presence of God in the Christian church. These 
are just such scenes as the Bible reports and 
just such results as it promises. 

Sow does Christianity now rank with the 
other religions of the world ? 

There are about 500,000,000 Christians in the 
world — a number exceeding, and in most cases 
far exceeding, those of the other great religions. 



154 j Why We Believe the Bible 

Estimates of Buddhists range from 100,000,000 
to 147,000,000. There are about 176,000,000 
Mohammedans in the world, 256,000,000 Con- 
fucianists, 190,000,000 Hindus. But the true 
comparison is vastly more favorable to Chris- 
tianity, for every one of the strongest, wealth- 
iest, most progressive and influential of the na- 
tions is Christian. Of the only non-Christian 
nation counted among the great powers, Japan, 
it may truly be said that it was Christian mis- 
sions that placed her there. All this is not, 
cannot be, accidental. There is a direct con- 
nection between national greatness and Chris- 
tianity, and this connection is an evidence of 
the favor of God and the truth of our religion. 

What is to he the future of Christianity ? 

There can be no doubt that Christianity is to 
become the one religion of the world. Chris- 
tians now number one-third of the world's pop- 
ulation, and govern one-third more, including 
four-fifths of the world's area. Through their 
wealth and political influence they virtually 
control much of the remainder. Christianity is 
spreading far more rapidly than any other re- 
ligion. At its present rate of increase it is not 
at all too much to expect that the large majority 
of the world's population will become Christian 
during the present century. 



The Evidence of Modern Missions 155 

What type of Christianity is thus rapidly 
increasing ? 

The type that I have been describing in these 
chapters. The so-called " liberal " sects that do 
not believe in the Bible except as they believe 
in Emerson and Carlyle, that scout the super- 
natural and hold Christ to be only such a sage 
as Socrates and such a reformer as Buddha — 
these are not missionary churches, and their 
numbers are not increasing. The great mis- 
sionary ingatherings, the winning of " nations 
in a day," are made by the churches that revere 
the Bible as the supernaturally inspired and 
unique "Word of God, and worship Christ as a 
manifestation of God in the flesh, the atoning 
Saviour of all mankind. 

What is the conclusion of this argument from 
missions f 

The Bible is by far the most popular book 
in the world. More than ten million copies are 
sold every year. The Christian church is by 
far the most popular and successful and beloved 
institution in the world. "No other institution 
can command such loyalty, such service, such 
resources in men and money. Christianity, 
backed by the best brains and truest hearts of 
men, will continue in its triumphant course till 



156 Why We Believe the Bible 

it has won all the world to its banner. And 
this would be true even if every Christian now 
in the world should suddenly die, because there 
would still remain the two great agencies of 
our religion, the inspired Scriptures, and the in- 
spiring, convicting, converting Spirit of the 
Living God. 



CHAPTER XVIII 




WHY EVERY BELIEVER IN CHRIST SHOULD 
JOIN THE CHURCH 

IIESE studies have set forth the 
teachings of the Bible about 
Christ, and have shown why 
we should believe them. What 
does Christ expect of those that 
believe in Sim ? 
That they will confess His name before men. 
One of the most solemn of Christ's utterances 
is: "Every one who shall confess me before 
men, him will I also confess before my Father 
which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny 
me before men, him will I also deny before my 
Father which is in heaven " (Matt. 10 : 32, 33). 

What if a non-confessor should say, " Though 
I am not confessing Christ, at least lam not de- 
nying Him " f 

Such a man would be deluding himself. 
Christ considers a failure to confess Him as 
equivalent to a denial of Him ; as He Himself 
said, " He that is not with me is against me " 
(Matt. 12 : 30). In time of war, whoever re- 

i57 



158 Why We Believe the Bible 

fuses open allegiance to his country is rightly 
counted among her enemies ; and the world is 
the scene of a gigantic war between Christ and 
the forces of evil. Even in time of peace, those 
that withhold their votes from a party virtually 
vote against it. Look around you at the men 
who are not openly confessing Christ ; do not 
you, and all others, regard them as denying 
Christ? 

What is meant hy " confessing Christ " f 

Two things : (1) a definite, public statement 
of faith in Christ as your Saviour and Lord and 
a promise to serve Him ; (2) a life of trusting, 
glad, and faithful obedience to Christ's com- 
mands. These involve joining some branch of 
Christ's church. 

Why do they involve joining the church? 
Ccmnot one he a confessing Christian outside the 
church ? 

It is hard to see how one could. "Will he call 
together a town meeting to hear his statement 
of belief in Christ and promise to serve Him ? 
Will he print the statement in the town paper ? 
What more simple and natural and effective 
way of confessing Christ before men could one 
devise for himself than the way already devised, 
the quiet, modest, humble statement made at 



Believers Should Join the Church 159 

one of the regular assemblies of Christian be- 
lievers ? As a matter of fact, do those that talk 
about the possibility of being a Christian out- 
side the church ever make a public profession 
of allegiance to Christ ? 

And as to the second half of the Christian 
confession, the steady service of Christ, our 
Lord showed in all His life and activity that He 
wishes His followers to live and work in close 
cooperation. "What could an out-of-the-church 
Christian devise to take the place of the church 
prayer-meeting, the Sunday-school, the Sunday 
worship, the young people's societies, the offer- 
ings, the church committees with their many 
activities, the mission boards, the hundreds of 
blessed outgrowths of the corporate life of the 
church and denomination ? If he joins in these 
activities, he is meanly taking advantage of the 
church after all, though he will not support it 
by his membership and by sharing the respon- 
sibilities of its conduct. If he remains isolated, 
his solitary service is lame and ineffective at 
every point. 

What if there are points in the church creed 
that you do not understand ? 

Make sure that those points are in the church 
creed. Most creeds are exceedingly simple, 
and the points that puzzle you are very likely 



160 Why We Believe the Bible 

in the theology taught in the divinity schools 
rather than in the brief statement made by 
those that join the church. 

If, however, there is such a knotty point in 
the creed of the church of your choice, set your- 
self at work to untangle the knot. Get the 
best help you can. Your minister will be glad 
to throw light on the question ; so will many 
other wise men. Pray over it. Eead helpful 
books. Above all, read your Bible. You will 
not long remain in doubt, if you set about your 
study with all your heart. 

What if one objects to some feature of a church 
creed ? 

If, after study of a creed, you feel that you 
understand it but still disagree with some im- 
portant point in it, state your disagreement 
frankly to the pastor, and, if he thinks wise, to 
the church examining committee. They may 
assure you that your objections do not con- 
stitute a valid reason for your remaining out of 
the church, and may be willing so to arrange 
the reception service (by vote of the church) 
that you can join without doing violence to 
your conscience in the least. If this is not 
feasible, there are many other denominations, 
so many that every one can find a church em- 
bodying his beliefs. 



Believers Should Join the Church 161 

What if one feels that one is not good enough 
to join the church f 

That is the most absurd and deceptive of 
pleas ! Every one knows, or ought to know, 
that Christ's church is made up of those that 
confess themselves to be sinners, weak and help- 
less, needing at every step the companionship 
of their Teacher, the aid of their Comforter, the 
merciful pardon of their Saviour. It is those 
that remain out of the church that virtually 
say : " We are strong enough to stand alone. 
We are good enough not to need a Saviour. 
We are able to live rightly without the inspira- 
tion and fellowship of a church." 

What if one is afraid of becoming a dis- 
credit to the church ? 

If the church and Christ are ready to take 
that risk, that is their affair, and not yours! 
Our Lord accepted Peter among the Twelve 
though He knew that Peter would deny Him, 
because He knew also that Peter had rock- 
material in him. You may be a poor Eepub- 
lican, but you join the Eepublican party. Tou 
may not pass in your examinations, but you 
enter college. Tou may not make the best of 
husbands or wives, but you get married. In 
every relation of life you perceive that the only 
possible progress is made by accepting alliances 



162 Why We Believe the Bible 

with the honest purpose to be true to them, 
even though there is an attendant possibility of 
failure. Is not this the sensible course with re- 
gard to the church ? 

What if one looks at the poor characters of 
some church-memhers, and says that he does not 
wish to he classed with such persons, and can 
certainly he hetter outside the church than they 
are in it ? 

You are not joining tricky Mr. A. or slander- 
ous Mrs. B. when you join the church : you 
are joining Christ. If Christ bade His church 
take care lest in uprooting the tares they up- 
root also the wheat, and advised that often it 
is best to let the two grow together till the 
harvest, that is Christ's affair, and not yours. 
The persons you dislike might be far worse 
than they are if they were outside the church ; 
or, it may be the church's duty to cast them 
out. In any case, you are not mending matters 
by staying outside the church, merely criticis- 
ing church-members, while all the time you are 
shirking your own imperative duty. 

What if one feels that he is not wanted in the 
church ? 

You are wanted by Christ, and it is His 



Believers Should Join the Church 163 

church ! You are probably wronging the 
church, and mistaking the coldness of a few for 
the apathy of the whole. However that may 
be, it has nothing to do with the matter. Join- 
ing the church is a solemn transaction that con- 
cerns you and your Lord alone. You know 
that He wants you to confess Him before men. 
Do not allow the faithlessness of any man or of 
all men to make you faithless to Christ. One 
of the reasons why He wants you in His 
church may well be to create in it a different 
atmosphere. 

What if no one speaks to you about it ? 

Then speak to some one about it ! But as a 
matter of fact, Some One has spoken to you 
about it, and the most important One, the only 
One worth your waiting for, the great Head of 
the Church Himself. 

What if you feel that you ccmnot afford to 
pay your share of the church expenses a/nd make 
contributions to the mcmy church organizations 
and enterprises ? 

Church-membership imposes upon you ab- 
solutely no obligation, financial or otherwise, 
that is not yours just as much outside the 
church as in it. God, who gave you all you 



164 Why We Believe the Bible 

possess, has a right to control the use of it all. 
You are just as much bound now to pay your 
share of the expenses attending all good enter- 
prises as you would be if you joined the church. 
The church will acquaint you with many causes 
that need your help, and will continually spur 
your conscience in the matter of giving; but 
your conscience and your money and your duty 
will all be in your own hands, just as they are 
now. What you cannot afford is to be untrue 
to them. 

What if one is too timid to join the church ? 

Do you know what joining the church meant 
in the early days, and what it still means on 
many missions fields ? Think of the loss of 
friends and possessions, the sneers and taunts, 
the imprisonments and tortures, the loneliness 
and exile, the sickness and death ! And you 
are afraid to meet a dozen sympathizing, 
friendly, cordial church officers and tell them 
of your love for Christ ; and then afraid to 
stand up before one or two hundred of your 
neighbors and friends and in that loving and 
glad presence simply bow your head in affirma- 
tion of the church vows ! Is this your return 
for Christ's agonies upon the cross ? Can you 
not crucify your baseless fears, for His dear 
sake? 



Believers Should Join the Church 165 

Wliat if you intend to join the church, but 
wish to wait for some one else ? 

Do not do it ! That person may be waiting 
for you. At any rate, you are keeping Christ 
waiting, which is more to be considered than 
the companionship in this step of any one on 
earth. Your influence over your friend will 
count far more for Christ if you are in Christ's 
church than if you remain out of it. You will 
also have the help of your fellow church-mem- 
bers in winning your friend, together with the 
all-powerful aid of the Holy Spirit, who cannot 
help you until you begin a life of sincere obe- 
dience. 

What if one intends to join the church at 
some time, but not just now ? 

Brother ! Sister ! This night thy soul may 
be required of thee ! Now is always the only 
accepted time ; now is always the only day of 
salvation. You will never be readier to hear 
Christ's voice than to-day. Every day's delay 
will harden your heart to His loving appeal. 
Every day's delay means twenty-four hours 
more of duty neglected, twenty-four hours less 
of privilege enjoyed. With the certainty of 
death, the possibility that death may be at 
hand, and the perfect knowledge that your 



166 Why We Believe the Bible 

Saviour wishes you to confess Him at once, 
can you afford to put it off a single hour ? 

What if one is too old, <md has put it off too 
long? 

You have not put it off longer than the thief 
on the cross ! You have not put it off longer 
than the eleventh-hour laborer ! And remember 
that the thief reached Paradise as soon as Christ 
did, and the eleventh-hour laborer was paid as 
much as the first-hour laborer. If you are old, 
there is every reason why you should confess 
Christ at once : you have all that back time to 
make up ! There is never a " too long " on 
Christ's side, but there may be on yours. Oh, 
yield to Christ what remains of your life, and 
seek to pack it fuller of loving service than a 
few years ever were packed before ! 

What if one is young, and feels that there is 
plenty of time yet ? 

You do not know that there is plenty of 
time yet. You do not know that there is a 
single day. You can easily recall some young 
companion who also thought that there was 
plenty of time, but was suddenly summoned to 
the presence of his neglected Saviour. And 
even if you were sure of a long life, is it not 
contemptible in the extreme, while Christ has 



Believers Should Join the Church 167 

given His life for you and is daily loading you 
with blessings, to be willing to dedicate to Him 
only the latter portion of your life, only the 
sere and yellow leaf ? 

What, after all, is the one decisive reason for 
joining the church ? 

That Christ wants you to ! You cannot get 
away from this reason. You may think up 
dozens of objections, these I have answered and 
a lot more that I have not been able to guess ; 
and my answers may not satisfy you. But 
every objection is perfectly met by the one 
great truth that your divine Lord, your living 
Saviour, wants you to confess Him before men 
and join His working brotherhood of believers. 
You know that this is true. You know that 
every day's delay is a grief to His loving heart. 
You know that if only a tenth part of the 
arguments in these chapters are true, Jesus 
Christ is the Son of God, and your only Saviour. 
"Will you not at this very moment, while you 
are reading these words, say to Him in your 
heart of hearts that you trust Him, you love 
Him, you place your life in His hands, and will 
own Him and serve Him before all men and 
through all ages ? God grant it. Amen. 



DEVOTIONAL BOOKS 

CHAMBERS! OF_ THE SOUL 

By Rev. Cornelius Woelfkin. 120 pp. Cloth, 35c. 

The chapters of this book were delivered as addresses to thousands dur- 
ing the summer of 1 901 at the Cincinnati Christian Endeavor Convention 
and the Winona Bible Conference. There has been a general demand for 
them ever since. "The Music-Room with its Orchestra," "The Throne- 
Room," "The Studio," "The Judgment-Hall," etc., are the titles of some 
of the interesting chapters. 

GRACE BEFORE MEAT 

By Amos R. Wells. 
80 pp., beautifully printed. Paper covers, 25c. 

Morocco leather binding, 50c. post-paid. 

This book contains the largest and most helpful collection of table bless- 
ings ever made. There are blessings for the Sabbath, for morning, noon, 
and evening, for all sorts of holidays, for children, for singing, for guests, 
for birthdays, public dinners, and many "for any time." There are many 
by famous authors. Some are in verse. A few are in other languages. 
There is a practical introduction on methods of asking a blessing. 



GOLDEN COUNSELS 
By D wight L. Moody. 41 pp. 35c. 

Dainty cloth binding. A half-tone reproduction of Hofmann's painting, 
" Christ Preaching from the Boat," forms the frontispiece. 

Mr. Moody always sparkles, and he could not have chosen questions 
surer to flash into the eye and heart than his pithy "How shall we spend 
the Sabbath?" "Bible-Marking," "Christ Our Model," etc. 

He lays hold of these themes in his brisk, business-like way, and, like a black- 
smith forging iron, makes the sparks fly. — Zion's Herald. 

THE INNER LIFE 

By Bishop John H. Vincent, D.D. 

72 pp. Cloth, 35c. Paper, 15c; ten copies for $1.00. 

"A study in Christian experience" which shows how the life of the soul 

is the true reality and what striking results are wrought when the power of 

Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit become the controlling forces 

in a life. 

THE MORNING WATCH 

A book for the Quiet Hour, by Belle M. Brain. Illustrated with many 
fine half-tone portraits of the authors from whom selections are made. 414 
pp. Decorated cloth, gilt top, boxed, . $1.00. 

Three hundred and sixty-six gems from the heart and brain and hands 
of the saints of God of all ages. With this book in your possession you can 
live and hold daily conversation for a month with Andrew Murray, with 
F. B. Meyer, A. J. Gordon, Francis E. Clark, D. L. Moody, J. R. Miller, 
Henry Drummond, Theodore L. Cuyler, Frances R. Havergal, Charles H. 
Spurgeon, and others. They will speak to you from the hours of their 
richest and deepest experience. 

UNITED SOCIETY OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR 
Boston and Chicago 



THE ENDEAVOR LIBRARY 

27 BOOKS AND BOOKLETS 

Every Society should own this complete reference library, consisting of 
twelve books at 35 cents each, one book at $1.00 and fourteen booklets for 
$1.13 — a total of $6.33 for only 

$5.00 

Express prepaid by us. 

The Officers' Handbook. Prayer Meeting Methods. Social Evenings. 
Social to Save. Eighty Pleasant Evenings. The Missionary Manual. Fifty 
Missionary Programmes. Fuel for Missionary Fires. Weapons for Tem- 
perance Warfare. Citizens in Training. Our Unions. Next Steps. 

ONLY 35 CENTS EACH 

The Christian Endeavor Manual. #1.00. 



CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR BOOKLETS 

Christian Endeavor Grace Notes. (10c.) 

Christian Endeavor Ink. (10c.) 

Christian Endeavor in Principle and Practice. (5c.) 

Christian Endeavor Snapshots. (10c.) 

Christian Endeavor Unions. (10c.) 

Effective Temperance Committee. (5c.) 

The Endeavor Greeting. (10c.) 

Flower Committee's Summary. (5c.) 

Good Literature Committee at Work. (5c.) 

On the Lookout. (10c.) 

Our Crowning Meeting. (Consecration. 10c.) 

Plans for Missionary Committees. (8c.) 

Social Committee at Work. (5c.) 

Sunday School Endeavors. (10c.) 

Order at once 



UNITED SOCIETY OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR 

600 Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass., 

J53 La Salle St, Cnicago, I1L 



AUG 15 1910 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2in 






One copy del. to Cat. Div. 

m<s 15 iwi 



